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MANY STARS ARE NOW KNOWN TO HOST SUBSTANTIAL QUANTITIES OF SMALL DUST PARTICLES IN THEIR INNER PLANETARY SYSTEMS SIMILAR TO SCALED-UP VERSIONS OF THE ZODIACAL DUST ORBITING THE SUN. WHERE THIS EXOZODIACAL MATERIAL COMES FROM WHAT DRIVES ITS EVOLUTION AND WHAT ITS FATE ULTIMATELY WILL BE ARE MATTERS OF ACTIVE RESEARCH. SINCE THIS DUST COULD BE INDICATIVE OF PROCESSES THAT MIGHT HAVE SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON THE FORMATION AND EVOLUTION OF EARTH-LIKE PLANETS IT IS ESSENTIAL TO DEVELOP A FIRM UNDERSTANDING OF IT. WITH X-RAY OBSERVATIONS OF THE DUSTIEST EXOZODIACAL SYSTEMS KNOWN WE SEEK TO PROBE A NOVEL MODEL FOR REMOVING SOLID MATERIAL FROM INNER PLANETARY SYSTEMS. ARCHIVAL XMM-NEWTON ROSAT AND CHANDRA DATA FOR 15 STELLAR SYSTEMS WILL BE REDUCED ANALYZED AND MODELED THUS TRIPLING THE NUMBER OF EXCEPTIONALLY DUSTY STARS WITH SUCH CHARACTERIZATION. THE PROPOSAL GOALS ARE WELL-ALIGNED WITH THE SCOPE OF THE ASTROPHYSICS DATA ANALYSIS PROGRAM AND DIRECTLY INFORM THE NASA SCIENCE MISSION DIRECTORATE TO UNDERSTAND OUR COSMIC ORIGINS ESPECIALLY TO DETERMINE HOW SOLID MATERIAL IN PLANETARY SYSTEMS EVOLVES AND WHAT IMPACT THESE PROCESSES MIGHT HAVE ON FULL-FLEDGED PLANETS LIKE EARTH.

$162,153FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA

University Of California, San Diego, La Jolla CA

Investigators

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