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When a main sequence star evolves into a red giant and its Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs) reach a temperature of ~170 K, the dust released during the rapid ice sublimation of these cometary bodies may lead to a detectable infrared excess at 25 μm, depending on the mass of the KBOs. Analysis of IRAS data for 66 first-ascent red giants with 200 L ☉ < L < 300 L ☉ within 150 pc of the Sun provides an upper limit to the mass in KBOs at 45 AU orbital radius that is usually less than ~0.1 M ⊕ . With improved infrared data, we may detect systems of KBOs around first-ascent red giants that are analogs to our solar system.
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M. Jura (2004) studied this question.
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