Instead of looking directly for Earth-sized planets, it might be easier to just try to find the ring of dust that is the fingerprint of terrestrial planet formation. This is according to a new computer model created by astronomers from the Smithsonian Center and Astrophysics and the University of Utah. Their model predicts that stars with disks will be a little brighter in the infrared spectrum than stars without disks; astronomers should be able to predict the size of its planets just from the brightness of its disk in infrared. The recently-launched Spitzer space telescope should be the perfect tool to measure these disks.