The "Dark Rift" or "Great Rift" or "Milky Way Rift" is not actually a 'rift' at all. It is a series of overlapping dust and molecular gas clouds that are positioned between our solar system and the nuclear bulge of the galaxy. These clouds block the light from that portion of the milky way, and cause it to appear as if the Milky Way is divided into two roughly equal sections above and below them. These clouds (or 'dark nebulae') are several thousand light years distant, and almost completely obscure the central portion of the galaxy from our view.1 One of the Messier objects (M24) is actually a window or tunnel through the dust clouds. What appears to be a deep sky object is actually a portion of the Sagittarius Arm of the galaxy.
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