<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/d99423be-03c8-40dc-8b00-968d7b10150f/FDA3B8AE-A06A-42BF-A707-C51C792AB49B/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.universetoday.com/2009/04/19/ancient-solar-systems-found-around-dead-stars/" href="http://www.universetoday.com/2009/04/19/ancient-solar-systems-found-around-dead-stars/" style="font-size: 11px;">www.universetoday.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.universetoday.com/2009/04/19/ancient-solar-systems-found-around-dead-stars/"><div align="center"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.universetoday.com/img/8DC5DEBC-EECE-4E9F-81F9-F6453DFFA7DB" alt="Asteroids Around Dead Stars. Credit: NASA/JPL" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.universetoday.com/2009/04/19/ancient-solar-systems-found-around-dead-stars/">Were there once habitable planets long ago around stars that are now dead? A team of astronomers have found evidence that between 1-3 percent of <A rel="external" title="" class="alinks_links" href="http://www.universetoday.com/guide-to-space/stars/white-dwarf-stars/">white dwarf</A> stars are orbited by rocky planets and asteroids, suggesting these objects once hosted solar systems similar to our own</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.universetoday.com/2009/04/19/ancient-solar-systems-found-around-dead-stars/">The atmospheres of these white dwarf stars should consist entirely of hydrogen and helium but are sometimes found to be contaminated with heavier elements like calcium and magnesium. The new observations suggest that these <A rel="external" title="" class="alinks_links" href="http://www.universetoday.com/guide-to-space/earth/">Earth</A>-sized stars are often polluted by a gradual rain of closely orbiting dust that emits infrared radiation picked up by Spitzer.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.universetoday.com/2009/04/19/ancient-solar-systems-found-around-dead-stars/">implies that at least 1% to 3% of main sequence stars have terrestrial planets around them.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.universetoday.com/2009/04/19/ancient-solar-systems-found-around-dead-stars/">This backs up the team’s hypothesis that the dust disks around white dwarfs are produced by tidally disrupted minor planets</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/FDA3B8AE-A06A-42BF-A707-C51C792AB49B/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

New from the makers of Clipmarks:  Amplify.com - Don't just share the news...Amplify it!