We correlated the Bright Star (BSC) and Michigan Spectral (MSC) Catalogs with the IRAS catalogs to determine which, if any, luminosity class Ⅲ giant stars have associated circumstellar dust particles. Of more than 40,000 class Ⅲ giant stars in the BSC and MSC, we find that approx < 300 have associated dust. The presence of substantial dust near these stars, most of which are post-main-sequence, first-ascent giants, is not easily explained.
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