Galactic Dust-Busting: Mapping Dust Clouds in the Central Milky Way with Star Clusters

Astronomical observations of galaxies are complicated by the presence of interstellar dust and gas. Large clouds of gas and dust often accumulate in the centers and disks of galaxies like the Milky Way, obscuring and altering the starlight that passes through them. We present a small-scale, high spatial resolution map of the cloud complex between us and the globular star cluster NGC 5927. We infer the presence of interstellar matter by matching stellar temperatures derived from broad-band photometry of cluster stars to stellar temperatures calculated from the spectra of those same stars. Our map makes it possible to combat the obscuration effects and extend our studies to stars that are intrinsically faint.