Jeff Kuhn

IfA

Dwarf spheroidals in the Local Group -- Not the galaxies you thought they were.

For twenty years we've tried to stuff these impoverished galaxies with
everything from neutrinos to cold dark matter just to account for their
peculiar dynamical properties. As "laboratories for dark matter
theories and galaxy formation" they've been a dismal failure.   Yet,
there is hope for these tiny galaxies to reclaim some of our attention.
In this lecture we'll review their unusual morphology, dynamics, and
star formation histories, and see how they are a product of
their interaction with the Milky Way. As such they have alot to tell us
about our galaxy.