Where are we headed too?

Question

As solar system flys around the galaxy I'm sure we pass through some interesting things along the way.

I've read somewhere in the past that life exists on earth because we have been in a calm part of our orbit.

What are we coming up on in space that could change the way we few things?

Passing through a gas cloud would probably cause a weird sight in the sky at night if it was burning up coming into the atmosphere constantly, but this would be a minor thing compared to other possibilities.

I know our galaxy will ram into andromeda billions of years from now.

What are we coming up on in space that might change the way we view things, not few things. :)
I try to proof read my questions and answers but missed that one.

Answer 1

The above actually isn't true, we're going to ram into andromeda before the sun goes out :)

It takes more than a billion years to complete a full revolution of our galaxy as I recall. I think since some 2-3 billion years of evolution have occurred sucessfully on earth, there is nothing in this orbital path that is going to wipe out the solar system.

Answer 2

We are not flying around the galaxy, the whole galaxy rotates very slowly (if you count the number of revolutions per minute/year/billion years) so every thing in the galaxy rotates in the same direction and speed, more or less. that includes of course dust clouds/nebulae/etc.
our sun will go out long before we "ram" into Andromeda.

Answer 3

Nothing relevant in your lifetime or mine.

The nearest star, Alpha Centauri, is 4.3 light years away. Sun's mean velocity is 217 km/s. It would take about 6000 yrs for the Sun to go 4.3 ly, so there's really nothing that's going to happen anything soon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun

When astronomers talk about galactic collisions and the like, they're talking about timescales of millions of years.