I was doing some research online about slower-than-light interstellar spacecraft, and it got me thinking about a couple things. Although it may seem empty, the space between stars isn't a perfect vacuum. There's still dust, stellar wind, gas clouds, and many other particles floating around that make up the "interstellar medium". Although it's effects are negligible for ordinary spacecraft, a ship traveling a good portion of the speed of light would start to feel "atmospheric" effects from all those particles running into it. So, is it possible to generate a supersonic shock wave if a ship travels fast enough?

I was doing some research online about slower-than-light interstellar spacecraft, and it got me thinking about a couple things. Although it may seem empty, the space between stars isn't a perfect vacuum. There's still dust, stellar wind, gas clouds, and many other particles floating around that make up the "interstellar medium". Although its effects are negligible for ordinary spacecraft, a ship traveling a good portion of the speed of light would start to feel "atmospheric" effects from all those particles running into it. So, is it possible to generate a supersonic shock wave if a ship travels fast enough?