Abstract:
Over the past few years, we have been using the Michigan/MIKE Fiber System (MMFS) and Hectochelle, to generate unprecedented large kinematic samples in nearby, resolved, dwarf galaxies. The systems studied to date range from the largest local dwarf spheroidal galaxies in which we have produced kinematic samples of many thousands of stars, to newly-discovered objects found from deep surveys of SDSS photometry which have total populations of only hundreds of stars and for which our samples are sufficient to obtain basic kinematic parameters. We have applied a range of analyses to these data using non-parametric techniques as well as more traditional profile-fitting methods. These results begin to paint a complex picture involving hierarchical growth, tidal harrassment, and possibly tidal formation among individual galaxies in our halo and, by implication, of the halo itself. I will also present our plans for a next-generation fiber spectrograph for Magellan, highlighting possible future areas of collaboration with fiber experts at the AAO.