(abridged) We present a dynamical analysis of the extended stellar stream encircling NGC 1097. Within a statistical framework, we model its surface brightness using mock streams as in Amorisco (2015) and deep imaging data from the CHART32 telescope (Stellar Tidal Stream Survey). We reconstruct the post-infall evolution of the progenitor, which has experienced 3 pericentric passages and lost more than 2 orders of magnitude in mass. At infall, $5.4pm0.6$ Gyr ago, the progenitor was a disky dwarf with mass of $log_{10}[m(<3.4pm1 {rm kpc})/ M_odot]=10.35pm0.25$. We illustrate how the 90$^circ$ turn in the stream, identifying the `dog leg, is the signature of the progenitors prograde rotation. Today, the remnant is a nucleated dwarf, with a LOS velocity of $v_{rm p, los}^{rm obs}=-30pm 30$ kms$^{-1}$, and a luminosity of $3.3times 10^7 L_{V,odot}$ (Galianni et al. 2010). Our independent analysis predicts $v_{rm p, los}=-51^{-17}_{+14}$ kms$^{-1}$, and measures $log_{10}(m/ M_odot)=7.4^{+0.6}_{-0.8}$, so that the compact nucleus is soon becoming a low-luminosity UCD. We find that NGC 1097 has a mass of $M_{200}=1.8^{+0.5}_{-0.4} times 10^{12}; M_{odot}$, and its concentration $c_{200}=6.7^{+2.4}_{-1.3}$ is in agreement with LCDM. The stream is described almost down to the noise in a spherical host potential, we find this would not be possible if the halo was substantially triaxial at large radii. Its morphology shows that the slope of the total density profile bends from an inner $gamma(r_{rm peri})=1.5pm0.15$. The progenitors orbit reaches $r_{rm apo}=150pm 15$ kpc, more than a half of the virial radius of the host, so that, for the first time on an individual extragalactic halo, we measure the outer density slope, $gamma(0.6r_{200,c})=3.9pm0.5$. This demonstrates the promise of the newborn field of detailed, statistical modelling of extragalactic tidal streams.
We present the results of deep imaging obtained at the CFHT with MegaCam in the Anticenter direction at two different heights above the Galactic disk. We detect the presence of the Monoceros ring in both fields as a conspicuous and narrow Main Sequence feature which dominates star counts over a large portion of the color-magnitude diagram down to g~24. The comparison of the morphology and density of this feature with a large variety of Galactic models excludes the possibility that it can be due to a flare of the Galactic disk, supporting an extra-Galactic origin for this ring-like structure.
We report the detection of a pair of degree-long tidal tails associated with the globular cluster Palomar 14, using images obtained at the CFHT. We reveal a power-law departure from a King profile at large distances to the cluster center. The density map constructed with the optimal matched filter technique shows a nearly symmetrical and elongated distribution of stars on both sides of the cluster, forming a S-shape characteristic of mass loss. This evidence may be the telltale signature of tidal stripping in action. This, together with its large Galactocentric distance, imposes strong constraints on its orbit and/or origin: i) it must follow an external orbit confined to the peripheral region of the Galactic halo and/or ii) it formed in a satellite galaxy later accreted by the Milky Way.
