What if an interstellar cloud engulfed our solar system?
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Answer:
Interstellar clouds (..nebulae..) have extremely low densities; they're little more dense than empty space. About the only effects our solar system might notice, particularly Earth, is that global temperatures would decrease slightly. Many astronomers believe that Earth has gone through such clouds in the past, and will do so again. They think that ice ages might be caused by such passages.
It would be curtains for most if not all of us.
Not a lot. Interstellar means in the space between stars. We are right next to a star so the cloud wouldn't be interstallar any more.
Some of the dust in such a cloud would be swept up by the planets and the rest would be blown out back into interstellar space by the solar wind. There is a shock wave way past Pluto where deep space collides with the solar wind and is where I reckon interstellar space starts.
They are so defuse that nothing would happen
The old professor says: The solar wind from our own sun produces a denser medium than the average nebula. Not to worry...our solar system was born in the midst of a type of nebula called a stellar nursery, along with a bunch of sibling stars.
I have to agree with the people who say not much. The densest interstellar cloud is about a quadrillion times less dense than the air on Earth. That is REALLY thin.
I recall hearing a couple yrs ago that there is evidence that we are now engulfed. Worth looking up
In fact; were are already in one. Our Solar System is in the middle of a huge cloud that has billions and maybe trillions of asteroid at edge. It is called the Oort Cloud. The Solar System was born when a supernova occurred. When the Sun became a star, its solar wind pushed all the gases and dust into space. But these gases form a surround circle around us and created the Oort Cloud.
This information seems unfamiliar, but it's true.
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