  The search for binarity in AGB stars is of critical importance for our
understanding of how planetary nebulae acquire the dazzling variety of
aspherical shapes which characterises this class. However, detecting binary
companions in such stars has been severely hampered due to their extreme
luminosities and pulsations. We have carried out a small imaging survey of AGB
stars in ultraviolet light (using GALEX) where these cool objects are very
faint, in order to search for hotter companions. We report the discovery of
significant far-ultraviolet excesses towards nine of these stars. The
far-ultraviolet excess most likely results either directly from the presence of
a hot binary companion, or indirectly from a hot accretion disk around the
companion.
