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Dwarf galaxies yesterday, now and tomorrow

Nature Astronomy volume 5, pages 1191–1194 (2021)Cite this article

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In the past 20 years, the discovery and characterization of the smallest galaxies have pushed the edges of observational endeavours and theoretical advancements alike, and they will continue to be at the forefront of this field for years to come.

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Fig. 1: Images of a representative sample of Local Group dwarf galaxies, spanning a range of stellar masses and sizes.

Eckhard Slawik (LMC); ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2 (Fornax); ref. 23 (WLM, Pegasus, Phoenix); ESO (Sculptor); Mischa Schirmer (Draco); Vasily Belokurov and Sergey Koposov (Eridanus II, Pictoris I).

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Acknowledgements

Research by D.C. is supported by NSF grant AST-1814208. B.M.-P. is supported by an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship under award AST-2001663. We thank all the contributing experts for their time and insights. We have strived to strike a geographical and gender balance in the experts we reached out to. Not all contacted experts were available for comment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Tampa, Tampa, FL, USA

    Denija Crnojević

  2. Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Burçin Mutlu-Pakdil

  3. Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Burçin Mutlu-Pakdil

Authors
  1. Denija Crnojević
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  2. Burçin Mutlu-Pakdil
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Correspondence to Denija Crnojević or Burçin Mutlu-Pakdil.

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Crnojević, D., Mutlu-Pakdil, B. Dwarf galaxies yesterday, now and tomorrow. Nat Astron 5, 1191–1194 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-021-01563-1

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