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[67.03] Nearby Stars with Circumstellar Planetary Material

D. E. Backman (USRA / SOFIA)

The IRAS far-IR all-sky survey discovered main sequence stars with circumstellar planetary debris disks, the so-called Vega phenomenon. Surveys of IRAS data supplemented by later information from the ISO spacecraft and the 2MASS groundbased near-IR survey reveal that approximately 15 normal nearby field stars have significant amounts of cold solid material around them, the dust component of extrasolar Kuiper Belts. Statistics of planetary dust versus stellar characteristics will be discussed in anticipation of great advances in understanding of these objects to be expected from SIRTF observations.

The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: dbackman@mail.arc.nasa.gov

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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 35#5
© 2003. The American Astronomical Soceity.