We present high-resolution spectra ( R \sim 49,000 ) of stars that have parallax measurements from the Hipparcos satellite and are projected along the line of sight to the two nearest known star forming clouds to the Sun : MBM12 and MBM20 .
The spectra were obtained with the FOCES Echelle Spectrograph at the 2.2 meter telescope in Calar Alto , Spain and the wavelength range was chosen to include the interstellar Na I D lines at \lambda 5889.950 Å and \lambda 5895.924 Å .
Since the stars are at a range of distances , we use their spectra along with their parallaxes from Hipparcos to determine the distance to the molecular gas .
The stars in front of the cloud do not show interstellar Na I D absorption features while the stars behind the cloud do show interstellar absorption features .
We find that both clouds are somewhat more distant than previously estimated .
The revised distance to MBM12 is 58 \pm 5 pc < d < 90 \pm 12 pc and the distance to MBM20 is 112 \pm 15 pc < d < 161 \pm 21 pc .