VST-SMASH: the VST Survey of Mass Assembly and Structural Hierarchy
/ Authors
Crescenzo Tortora, R. Ragusa, M. Gatto, M. Spavone, L. Hunt, V. Ripepi, M. Dall’Ora, Abdurro’uf, Francesca Annibali, M. Baes
and 14 more authors
Francesco Belfiore, N. Bellucco, M. Bolzonella, M. Cantiello, P. Dimauro, M. Kluge, F. Lelli, Nicola R. Napolitano, A. Nucita, M. Radovich, R. Scaramella, E. Schinnerer, Vincenzo Testa, Aiswarya Unni
/ 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.