  Using star counts in both color and magnitude from the Two Micron All Sky
Survey (2MASS) Second Incremental Release Point Source Catalog we search for
evidence of non-uniform extinction and stellar population density changes in
the Galactic Plane. Extinction causes the entire main sequence to shift toward
redder colors on a color magnitude diagram. A local increase in the stellar
density causes an increase in the star counts along a line parallel to the main
sequence. We find streaks in star count color magnitude contour plots along the
angle of the main sequence which are likely to be caused by distant gas clouds
and stellar density variations. The distance of a gas cloud or stellar density
change can be estimated from the location of the shift in the star count
contours. We identify features in these diagrams which are coherent across at
least 10 degrees in Galactic longitude. A series of features is seen at the
plausible distance of the expected Perseus spiral arm at a distance of 2 to 4
kpc from the sun. However other features as prominent are found at both at
larger and smaller distances. These structures are over 300 pc in size and so
likely to be associated with large scale coherent structures in the gas
distribution such as weak spiral arms. The presence of multiple and weak spiral
arms, and lack of strong ones suggests that the outer Milky Way is flocculent
in its morphology.
