Synthetic observations of star formation and the interstellar medium

TL;DR

Synthetic observations are vital in astrophysics for interpreting data and testing models, especially in star formation and interstellar medium studies, with ongoing development of methods and future research directions.

Contribution

This review summarizes current methods and tools for generating and analyzing synthetic observations in star formation and interstellar medium research, highlighting future prospects.

Findings

Synthetic observations aid in interpreting astrophysical data.

Tools and methods for synthetic observations are evolving.

Future research directions include new applications and improved techniques.

Abstract

Synthetic observations are playing an increasingly important role across astrophysics, both for interpreting real observations and also for making meaningful predictions from models. In this review, we provide an overview of methods and tools used for generating, manipulating and analysing synthetic observations and their application to problems involving star formation and the interstellar medium. We also discuss some possible directions for future research using synthetic observations.