Number 187 (Story #1), July 11, 1994 by Phillip F. Schewe and Ben Stein A CIRCUMSTELLAR DUST RING , made from asteroid debris, may exist and might be centered at a radius just outside Earth's orbit around the sun. Astronomers at the University of Florida reach this conclusion using a combination of numerical simulations of dust particles migrating from the asteroid belt (between Mars and Jupiter) in toward the sun and using observations made by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) of features in the zodiacal cloud, the thin fog of dust pervading the inner solar system. The Florida scientists suggest that the resonance effects that shuttle dust into and out of the heliocentric ring may also be important in building planets in star systems (such as Beta Pictoris) with circumstellar dust disks. (Stanley F. Dermott et al., Nature, 30 June 1994.)