The determination of the distance to dark star-forming clouds is a key
parameter to derive the properties of the cloud itself, and of its stellar
content. This parameter is still loosely constrained even in nearby
star-forming regions. We want to determine the distances to the clouds in the
Chamaeleon-Musca complex and to explore the connection between these clouds and
the large scale cloud structures in the galaxy. We use the newly estimated
distances obtained from the parallaxes measured by the Gaia satellite and
included in the Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution catalog. When known members of
a region are included in this catalog we use their parallaxes to infer the
distance to the cloud. Otherwise, we analyze the dependence of the color excess
on the distance of the stars and look for a turn-on of this excess, which is a
proxy of the position of the front-edge of the star-forming cloud. We are able
to measure the distance to the three Chamaeleon clouds. The distance to
Chamaeleon I is 179 pc, 20 pc further away than previously assumed. The
Chamaeleon II cloud is located at the distance of 181 pc, which agrees with
previous estimates. We are able to measure for the first time a distance to the
Chamaeleon III cloud of 199 pc. Finally, the distance of the Musca cloud is
smaller than 603 pc. These estimates do not allow us to distinguish between the
possibility that the Chamaeleon clouds are part of a sheet of clouds parallel
to the galactic plane, or perpendicular to it. Gaia Data Release 2 will allow
us to put more stringent constraints on the distances to these clouds by giving
us access to parallax measurements for a larger number of members of these
regions.Comment: Accepted for publication on A&A. Abstract shortened for arxiv
constraint
