We present new 10 \micron photometry of 21 nearby young stars obtained at the Palomar 5-meter and at the Keck I 10-meter telescopes as part of a program to search for dust in the habitable zone of young stars .
Thirteen of the stars are in the F–K spectral type range ( “ solar analogs ” ) , 4 have B or A spectral types , and 4 have spectral type M. We confirm existing IRAS 12 \micron and ground-based 10 \micron 
photometry for 10 of the stars , and present new insight into this spectral regime for the rest .
Excess emission at 10 \micron is not found in any of the young solar analogs , except for a possible 2.4-sigma detection in the G5V star HD 88638 .
The G2V star HD 107146 , which does not display a 10 \micron excess , is identified as a new Vega-like candidate , based on our 10 \micron photospheric detection , combined with previously unidentified 60 \micron and 100 \micron IRAS excesses .
Among the early-type stars , a 10 \micron excess is detected only in HD 109573A ( HR 4796A ) , confirming prior observations ; among the M dwarfs , excesses are confirmed in AA Tau , CD –40 \arcdeg 8434 , and Hen 3–600A .
A previously suggested N band excess in the M3 dwarf CD –33 \arcdeg 7795 is shown to be consistent with photospheric emission .

We calculate infrared to stellar bolometric luminosity ratios for all stars exhibiting mid-infrared excesses , and infer the total mass of orbiting dust in the cases of optically thin disks .
For a derived median photometric precision of \pm 0.11 mag , we place an upper limit of M _ { dust } \approx 2 \times 10 ^ { -5 } M _ { \earth } on the dust mass ( assuming a dust temperature of 300 K ) around solar analogs not seen in excess at 10 \micron .
Our calculations for the nearby K1V star HD 17925 show that it may have the least massive debris disk known outside our solar system ( M _ { dust } \gtrsim 7 \times 10 ^ { -6 } M _ { \earth } ) .

Our limited data confirm the expected tendency of decreasing fractional dust excess f _ { d } = L _ { IR } / L _ { * } with increasing stellar age .
However , we argue that estimates of f _ { d } suffer from a degeneracy between the temperature and the amount of circumstellar dust M _ { dust } , and propose a relation of M _ { dust } as a function of age , instead .