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The question is can disrupted comets or oorts block over 20% of the light from the star. A comet nucleus is a lot smaller than a star.

But comet nuclei also outgas quite a bit as they approach the star.

Wouldn't that cause a larger infrared emission (consistent with a young star)?

The article addresses this possibility with the fact that they would expect more infrared radiation which they don't see.

As with everything, they're looking for more data.