Are there other phenomena that have similar affects on a star? Dust clouds? I’m not really familiar with astronomy but I did follow the story around Tabby’s St

Are there other phenomena that have similar affects on a star? Dust clouds? I’m not really familiar with astronomy but I did follow the story around Tabby’s Star, which dimmed over a very short period. People threw around the idea of a Dyson swarm, but, I believe the most likely source of the dimming is believed to be a passing dust cloud.