Dust lane

Due to the dense and relatively thick nature of this dust, light from the galaxy is reduced by several magnitudes.

In the Milky Way, this attenuation of visible light makes it impossible to see the stars behind the Great Rift through the bulge around the Galactic Center from Earth.

This dust, as well as the gasses also found within these lanes, mixes and combine to form stars and planets.

[1] The gas in the dust lanes is funneled toward the Central Molecular Zone.

[2] The presence of a dust lane is most apparent in disc galaxies that are viewed edge on.