Is it possible to block light from a planet temporarily with stardust?

I've just come across a subplot in Jack McDevitt's Firebird where the earth-like planet Villanueva and the rest of its planet system was moving towards an unspecified dust cloud that made the planets uninhabitable for three centuries, leaving only robots behind (which became hostile so the planet is still uninhabitable, but let's imagine this world without the robots).

Some time after the system it has exited the dust cloud, the nature continued to grow and everything was inhabitable again.

Contrary to this question, it's assumed that the temperature of the dust isn't relevant. I'm well aware that there are things like a nuclear winter, but that problem happens solely in the atmosphere, the outer space isn't involved.

That finally leads to my questions:

1. Could a dust cloud block the light from a planet effectively for some decades or centuries, but not permanently?
2. Are there special conditions a dust cloud has to fulfill to achieve this result? (Certain density, size, ...)
3. Would there be other consequences beside the climate change?

posted almost 10 years ago

TidB‭

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