2011ApJ...726...72W

Spitzer Space Telescope photometry and spectroscopy of BD +20 307 show that all of the dust around this remarkable Gyr-old spectroscopic binary arises within 1 AU. No additional cold dust is needed to fit the infrared excess. Peaks in the 10 and 20 µm spectrum are well fit with small silicates that should be removed on a timescale of years from the system. This is the dustiest star known for its age, which is ≳ 1 Gyr. The dust cannot arise from a steady-state collisional cascade. A catastrophic collision of two rocky, planetary-scale bodies in the terrestrial zone is the most likely source for this warm dust because it does not require a reservoir of planetesimals in the outer system.