We have obtained deep Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging of 19 dwarf galaxy candidates in the vicinity of M101. Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) HST photometry for 2 of these objects showed resolved stellar populations and Tip of the Red Giant Branch (TRGB) derived distances (D∼7 Mpc) consistent with M101 group membership. The remaining 17 were found to have no resolved stellar populations, meaning they are either part of the background NGC 5485 group or are distant low surface brightness (LSB) galaxies. It is noteworthy that many LSB objects which had previously been assumed to be M101 group members based on projection have been shown to be background objects, indicating the need for future diffuse dwarf surveys to be very careful in drawing conclusions about group membership without robust distance estimates. In this work we update the satellite luminosity function (LF) of M101 based on the presence of these new objects down to M V =−8.2. M101 is a sparsely populated system with only 9 satellites down to M V ≈−8, as compared to 26 for M31 and 24.5±7.7 for the median Milky Way (MW)-mass host in the Local Volume. This makes M101 by far the sparsest group probed to this depth, though M94 is even sparser to the depth it has been examined (M V =−9.1). M101 and M94 share several properties that mark them as unusual compared to the other local MW-mass galaxies examined: they have a very sparse satellite population but also have high star forming fractions among these satellites; such properties are also found in the galaxies examined as part of the SAGA survey. We suggest that these properties appear to be tied to the wider galactic environment, with more isolated galaxies showing sparse satellite populations which are more likely to have had recent star formation, while those in dense environments have more satellites which tend to have no ongoing star formation. Overall our results show a level of halo-to-halo scatter between galaxies of similar mass that is larger than is predicted in the ΛCDM model.

We present deep Magellan/Megacam stellar photometry of four recently discovered faint Milky Way satellites: Sagittarius II (Sgr II), Reticulum II (Ret II), Phoenix II (Phe II), and Tucana III (Tuc III). Our photometry reaches ∼2-3 magnitudes deeper than the discovery data, allowing us to revisit the properties of these new objects (e.g., distance, structural properties, luminosity measurements, and signs of tidal disturbance). The satellite color-magnitude diagrams show that they are all old (∼13.5 Gyr) and metal-poor ([Fe/H] −2.2). Sgr II is particularly interesting as it sits in an intermediate position between the loci of dwarf galaxies and globular clusters in the size-luminosity plane. The ensemble of its structural parameters is more consistent with a globular cluster classification, indicating that Sgr II is the most extended globular cluster in its luminosity range. The other three satellites land directly on the locus defined by Milky Way ultra-faint dwarf galaxies of similar luminosity. Ret II is the most elongated nearby dwarf galaxy currently known for its luminosity range. Our structural parameters for Phe II and Tuc III suggest that they are both dwarf galaxies. Tuc III is known to be associated with a stellar stream, which is clearly visible in our matched-filter stellar density map. The other satellites do not show any clear evidence of tidal stripping in the form of extensions or distortions. Finally, we also use archival HI data to place limits on the gas content of each object.

We compare the star-forming properties of satellites around Milky Way (MW) analogs from the Stage II release of the Satellites Around Galactic Analogs Survey (SAGA-II) to those from the APOSTLE and Auriga cosmological zoom-in simulation suites. We use archival GALEX UV imaging as a star formation indicator for the SAGA-II sample and derive star formation rates (SFRs) to compare with those from APOSTLE and Auriga. We compare our detection rates from the NUV and FUV bands to the SAGA-II Hα detections and find that they are broadly consistent with over 85% of observed satellites detected in all three tracers. We apply the same spatial selection criteria used around SAGA-II hosts to select satellites around the MW-like hosts in APOSTLE and Auriga. We find very good overall agreement in the derived SFRs for the star-forming satellites as well as the number of starforming satellites per host in observed and simulated samples. However, the number and fraction of quenched satellites in the SAGA-II sample are significantly lower than those in APOSTLE and Auriga below a stellar mass of M * ∼ 10 8 M e , even when the SAGA-II incompleteness and interloper corrections are included. This discrepancy is robust with respect to the resolution of the simulations and persists when alternative star formation tracers are employed. We posit that this disagreement is not readily explained by vagaries in the observed or simulated samples considered here, suggesting a genuine discrepancy that may inform the physics of satellite populations around MW analogs.

We report the discovery of two ultra-faint stellar systems found in early data from the DECam Local Volume Exploration survey (DELVE). The first system, Centaurus I (DELVE J1238−4054), is identified as a resolved overdensity of old and metal-poor stars with a heliocentric distance of D = 116.3 +0.6 −0.6 kpc, a half-light radius of r h = 2.3 +0.4 −0.3 arcmin, an age of τ > 12.85 Gyr, a metallicity of Z = 0.0002 +0.0001 −0.0002 , and an absolute magnitude of M V = −5.55 +0.11 −0.11 mag. This characterization is consistent with the population of ultra-faint satellites, and confirmation of this system would make Centaurus I one of the brightest recently discovered ultra-faint dwarf galaxies. Centaurus I is detected in Gaia DR2 with a clear and distinct proper motion signal, confirming that it is a real association of stars distinct from the Milky Way foreground; this is further supported by the clustering of blue horizontal branch stars near the centroid of the system. The second system, DELVE 1 (DELVE J1630−0058), is identified as a resolved overdensity of stars with a heliocentric distance of D = 19.0 +0.5 −0.6 kpc, a half-light radius of r h = 0.97 +0.24 −0.17 arcmin, an age of τ = 12.5 +1.0 −0.7 Gyr, a metallicity of Z = 0.0005 +0.0002 −0.0001 , and an absolute magnitude of M V = −0.2 +0.8 −0.6 mag, consistent with the known population of faint halo star clusters. Given the low number of probable member stars at magnitudes accessible with Gaia DR2, a proper motion signal for DELVE 1 is only marginally detected. We compare the spatial position and proper motion of both Centaurus I and DELVE 1 with simulations of the accreted satellite population of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and find that neither is likely to be associated with the LMC.

The DECam Local Volume Exploration survey (DELVE) is a 126-night survey program on the 4 m Blanco Telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. DELVE seeks to understand the characteristics of faint satellite galaxies and other resolved stellar substructures over a range of environments in the Local Volume. DELVE will combine new DECam observations with archival DECam data to cover ∼15,000 deg2 of high Galactic latitude (∣b∣ > 10°) southern sky to a 5σ depth of g, r, i, z ∼ 23.5 mag. In addition, DELVE will cover a region of ∼2200 deg2 around the Magellanic Clouds to a depth of g, r, i ∼ 24.5 mag and an area of ∼135 deg2 around four Magellanic analogs to a depth of g, i ∼ 25.5 mag. Here, we present an overview of the DELVE program and progress to date. We also summarize the first DELVE public data release (DELVE DR1), which provides point-source and automatic aperture photometry for ∼520 million astronomical sources covering ∼5000 deg2 of the southern sky to a 5σ point-source depth of g = 24.3 mag, r = 23.9 mag, i = 23.3 mag, and z = 22.8 mag. DELVE DR1 is publicly available via the NOIRLab Astro Data Lab science platform.

We present a determination of the supermassive black hole (SMBH) mass function for early-and latetype galaxies in the nearby universe (z < 0.0057), established from a volume-limited sample consisting of a statistically complete collection of the brightest spiral galaxies in the southern hemisphere. The sample is defined by limiting luminosity (redshift-independent) distance, D L = 25.4 Mpc, and a limiting absolute B-band magnitude, M B = −19.12. These limits define a sample of 140 spiral, 30 elliptical (E), and 38 lenticular (S0) galaxies. We established the Sérsic index distribution for earlytype (E/S0) galaxies in our sample. Davis et al. (2014) established the pitch angle distribution for their sample, which is identical to our late-type (spiral) galaxy sample. We then used the pitch angle and the Sérsic index distributions in order to estimate the SMBH mass function for our volume-limited sample. The observational simplicity of our approach relies on the empirical relation between the mass of the central SMBH and the Sérsic index ) for an early-type galaxy or the logarithmic spiral arm pitch angle (Berrier et al. 2013) for a spiral galaxy. Our SMBH mass function agrees well at the high-mass end with previous values in the literature. At the low-mass end, while inconsistencies exist in previous works that still need to be resolved, our work is more in line with expectations based on modeling of black hole evolution.

We study the spiral arm morphology of a sample of the local spiral galaxies in the Illustris simulation and explore the supermassive black hole−galaxy connection beyond the bulge (e.g., spiral arm pitch angle, total stellar mass, dark matter mass, and total halo mass), finding good agreement with other theoretical studies and observational constraints. It is important to study the properties of supermassive black holes and their host galaxies through both observations and simulations and compare their results in order to understand their physics and formative histories. We find that Illustris prediction for supermassive black hole mass relative to pitch angle is in rather good agreement with observations and that barred and non-barred galaxies follow similar scaling relations. Our work shows that Illustris presents very tight correlations between supermassive black hole mass and large-scale properties of the host galaxy, not only for early-type galaxies but also low-mass, blue and star-forming galaxies. These tight relations beyond the bulge suggest that halo properties determine those of a disc galaxy and its supermassive black hole.

The two sources AGC 226178 and NGVS 3543, an extremely faint, clumpy, blue stellar system and a low surface brightness dwarf spheroidal, are adjacent systems in the direction of the Virgo cluster. Both have been studied in detail previously, with it being suggested that they are unrelated normal dwarf galaxies or that NGVS 3543 recently lost its gas through ram pressure stripping and AGC 226178 formed from this stripped gas. However, with Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys imaging, we demonstrate that the stellar population of NGVS 3543 is inconsistent with being at the distance of the Virgo cluster and that it is likely a foreground object at approximately 10 Mpc, whereas the stellar population of AGC 226178 is consistent with it being a very young (10–100 Myr) object in the Virgo cluster. Through a reanalysis of the original ALFALFA H i detection, we show that AGC 226178 likely formed from gas stripped from the nearby dwarf galaxy VCC 2034, a hypothesis strengthened by the high metallicity measured with MUSE VLT observations. However, it is unclear whether ram pressure or a tidal interaction is responsible for stripping the gas. Object AGC 226178 is one of at least five similar objects now known toward Virgo. These objects are all young and unlikely to remain visible for over ∼500 Myr, suggesting that they are continually produced in the cluster.