VST-SMASH: the VST Survey of Mass Assembly and Structural Hierarchy

Crescenzo Tortora; Rossella Ragusa; Massimiliano Gatto; Marilena Spavone; Leslie Hunt; Vincenzo Ripepi; Massimo Dall'Ora; Abdurro'uf; Francesca Annibali; Maarten Baes; Francesco Michel Concetto Belfiore; Nicola Bellucco; Micol Bolzonella; Michele Cantiello; Paola Dimauro; Mathias Kluge; Federico Lelli; Nicola R. Napolitano; Achille Nucita; Mario Radovich; Roberto Scaramella; Eva Schinnerer; Vincenzo Testa; Aiswarya Unni

arXiv · 2411.09608

VST-SMASH: the VST Survey of Mass Assembly and Structural Hierarchy

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Abstract

The VLT Survey Telescope Survey of Mass Assembly and Structural Hierarchy (VST-SMASH) aims to detect tidal features and remnants around very nearby galaxies, a unique and essential diagnostic of the hierarchical nature of galaxy formation. Leveraging optimal sky conditions at ESO's Paranal Observatory, combined with the VST's multi-band optical filters, VST-SMASH aims to be the definitive survey of stellar streams and tidal remnants in the Local Volume, targeting a low surface-brightness limit of $\mu \sim$ 30 mag arcsec$^{-2}$ in the g and r bands, and $\mu \sim$ 28 mag arcsec$^{-2}$ in the i band, in a volume-limited sample of local galaxies within 11 Mpc and the Euclid footprint.

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Crescenzo Tortora, Rossella Ragusa, Massimiliano Gatto, Marilena Spavone, Leslie Hunt, Vincenzo Ripepi, Massimo Dall'Ora, Abdurro'uf, Francesca Annibali, Maarten Baes, Francesco Michel Concetto Belfiore, Nicola Bellucco, Micol Bolzonella, Michele Cantiello, Paola Dimauro, Mathias Kluge, Federico Lelli, Nicola R. Napolitano, Achille Nucita, Mario Radovich, Roberto Scaramella, Eva Schinnerer, Vincenzo Testa, Aiswarya Unni. 2024-11-14. VST-SMASH: the VST Survey of Mass Assembly and Structural Hierarchy. https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.09608

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