The Structure of Galaxies at Faint Light Levels: Probing Galaxy Assembly

Abstract

Many clues about the galaxy assembly process lurk in the faint outer regions of galaxies. Although quantitative study of these parts has been severely limited in the past, breakthroughs are now being made thanks to the combination of wide-area star counts, deep HST imagery and 8-m class spectroscopy. I highlight here some recent progress made on deciphering the fossil record encoded in the outskirts of our nearest large neighbours, M31 and M33.

arXiv comment4 pages, invited talk at IAU Symposium 235, Aug 2006 Prague (eds. F. Combes & J. Palous)

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