Faintly it gleams, like a summer road
When the light in the west is sinking low,
Silent with star dust! By whose abode
Does the Winter Street in its windings go?
And who are they, all unheard and unseen—
O who are they, whose blessèd feet
Pass over that highway smooth and sheen?
What pilgrims travel the Winter Street?
Are they not those whom here we miss
In the ways and the days that are vacant below?
As the dust of that Street their footfalls kiss
Does it not brighter and brighter grow?"
Beautiful indeed are these poetic fancies but none of them picture even remotely the awe-inspiring grandeur of the Milky Way as it actually exists.
A Dark Nebula: The Dark Bay or Dark Horse Nebula in Orion
Taken with 100-inch Hooker Telescope of the Mt. Wilson Observatory
Millions upon millions of far distant suns equal to or surpassing our own sun in brilliancy are gathered within this vast encircling zone of the heavens, their combined light giving to the naked eye the impression of a milky band of light. Nine-tenths of all the stars, it has been estimated, lie close to the plane of the Galaxy, as well as all the vast expanses of luminous gaseous nebulæ and clouds of dark obscuring matter all seemingly intermingled in chaotic confusion; yet law and order govern the motions of all. Here also are the great moving star clusters such as the Pleiades and the Hyades and all of the brilliant "Orion" stars.
The structure of the Milky Way is not clearly understood but many astronomers believe there is evidence that it takes the form of a vast spiral nebula along whose arms the stars pass to and fro.