An optical search for Beta Pictoris-like disks around nearby stars

A coronagraphic survey of more than one hundred stars has been carried out in a search at optical wavelengths for circumstellar material similar to that found in the Beta Pictoris disk. The survey stars were primarily dwarfs in the spectral range A to K and most were closer than 100 pc. No evidence of circumstellar material was found around any of the stars, suggesting that Beta Pictoris is an abnormal object, surrounded by an unusually large amount of optically scattering material.