The Stellar Populations of dSph Galaxies in Nearby Groups

Abstract

In this contribution initial results are presented from a program to study in detail the stellar populations of dwarf Spheroidal (dSph) galaxies in three nearby groups. The long-term aim of the program is to assess the influence of environment in governing the evolution of these low-luminosity systems. Specific results described here include the detection and measurement of intermediate-age upper-AGB populations in dSphs in the M81 and Cen A groups, and the discovery that four of the five low-luminosity early-type dwarfs in the low density Sculptor group contain modest amounts of neutral hydrogen gas.

arXiv comment7 pages, 1 figure. To appear in the Proceedings of IAU Colloquium 198 "Near Field Cosmology with dwarf Elliptical Galaxies", eds H. Jerjen and B. Bingelli