Speaker
Description
The VST Survey of Mass Assembly and Structural Hierarchy (VST-SMASH) program targets a volume-limited sample of 27 local galaxies within 11 Mpc and the Euclid survey footprint in g-, r-, and i-bands, achieving a surface brightness limit of μ ≥ 29 mag arcsec⁻² in g- and r-bands and shallower levels in i-band. VST-SMASH gives a unique opportunity to detect faint stellar streams, tidal remnants and satellites around local galaxies, allowing us to constrain the galaxy assembly across a wide range of masses and galaxy types through the comparison with theoretical models and cosmological hydrodynamic simulations. VST-SMASH will provide the only deep counterpart of galaxies at D < 11 Mpc in the south hemisphere for future Euclid data exploitation, anticipating the deep LSST images available in the next years.
I will discuss the current status of the program and present the first preliminary results, focusing on the outcomes of the two papers submitted to A&A and currently under revision. These papers address the structural properties of IC 5332, and the discovery of new dwarf galaxy candidates in the field of NGC 5068 and of the two Virgo galaxies NGC 5084 and NGC 5087. I will conclude by outlining the future plans for the project.