An amazing result was found: the locations of these nebulae indicated that the disk of the Milky Way was divided into SPIRAL ARMS — huge, sweeping, curving arms that were tens of thousands of light years along their lengths.

这些星云的位置表明银河系的圆盘被分成了旋臂——巨大的、宽的、弯曲的旋臂，有数万光年长。