Multispectral photometric and polarimetrie observations of the Beta Pictoris circumstellar disk, made with a coronagraphic CCD camera at the Las Campanas Observatory between 1984 and 1989 (Smith et al 1992a), indicate that the nearly edge-on, highly flattened disk extends to a distance of more than 60 arcsec (1000au) from the star, with a nearly constant projected thickness of 2.8 arcsec (45 au) on the plane of the sky. A peculiar morphological property of the disk is its apparent asymmetry, with the northeast extension appearing somewhat longer and brighter than its southwest counterpart. Because of its implications for disk dynamics and morphology, this anomalous structure is perhaps the most puzzling phenomenon yet associated with the Beta Pictoris disk and deserves further study.
Optical Observations of the Beta Pictoris Disk
