Cool Stars 14 - Submitted Abstract # 336
This version created on 05 October 2006

Debris Disks in the Beta Pictoris Moving Group


David Ardila, Spitzer Science Center
Camilo Mejia, University of Los Andes
Michael Liu, University of Hawai'i
David Golimowski, Johns Hopkins University

We present the progress report of a search for debris disks around the
known members of the Beta Pictoris moving group (8-20  Myrs, 10-50  pc
away) group.  The group provides a coeval sample of multiple spectral
types, and it has already produced two magnificent resolved debris
disks:  AU Mic and Beta Pic.  We have used HST's Advanced Camera for
Surveys coronagraph looking for circumstellar scattered light (in the
F606W band) around the members of the group, independently of whether
or not they have infrared excesses.  The search strategy is based on
the fact that, unlike unresolved photometric observations,
observations of extended objects are not flux-limited.  In principle,
it is possible to detect circumstellar material in scattered light
that is too diffuse to be detected in the infrared, even with Spitzer.
We have already observed 12 of the 21 targets of the program.  No
circumstellar material has been detected in any of the targets
observed so far.  We derive strong upper limits on the presence of
debris disks around these systems.  

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