We present the latest results from our project to search for new planetary nebulae in nearby galaxies using Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) imaging data. Our method is based on photometric criteria and can be applied to galaxies where PNe appear as point sources. We applied these criteria to the whole area of M31 as scanned by SDSS, detecting 130 new PN candidates and 30 known PNe. All selected...

The inclination of M31 is too close to edge-on for a bar component to be easily recognised and is not sufficiently edge-on for a boxy/peanut bulge to protrude clearly out of the equatorial plane. Nevertheless, a sufficient number of clues allow us to argue that this galaxy is barred. We use fully self-consistent N -body simulations of barred galaxies and compare them with both photometric and k...

We have used the data from the DIRECT project to search for new globular cluster candidates in the M31 and M33 galaxies. We have found 67 new objects in M31 and 35 in M33 and confirmed 38 and 16 previously discovered ones. A V I and BV I photometry has been obtained for all the clusters in M31 and M33 respectively. Luminosity functions have been constructed for the clusters in each galaxy and c...

We report on the identification of a new cluster in the far halo of the M31 galaxy. The cluster, named Bologna 514 (B514) has an integrated magnitude M V = −8.5 ± 0.6, and a radial velocity, as estimated from two independent low-resolution spectra, V r = −456 ± 23 km/s, which fully confirms its membership to the M31 system. The observed integrated spectrum is very similar to those of classical ...

We have imaged the extended HI environment of M31 with an unprecedented combination of high resolution and sensitivity. We detect a number of distinct High Velocity Cloud components associated with M31. A subset of the features within 30 kpc appear to be tidal in origin. A filamentary " halo " component is concentrated at the M31 systemic velocity and appears to extend into a " bridge " connect...

A velocity dispersion has been measured for the luminous globular cluster M31 037–B327, claimed to be the most massive star cluster in the Local Group and to be a young “super star cluster” that has survived to an old age. M31 037– B327 has a mass comparable to that of M31 G1, but not significantly larger. Although near the upper end for the mass distribution of globular clusters, it is not an ...

We show that there is a subsystem of the M31 globular clusters with thin disk kinematics. These clusters span the entire metallicity range of the M31 globular cluster system, in contrast to the (thick) disk globulars in the Milky Way which are predominantly metal-rich. Disk globular clusters are found across the entire disk of M31 and form ∼40% of the clusters projected on its disk. The existen...

We present results from an Andromeda Galaxy (M31) survey of star-forming regions based on 24 μm luminosity for H2O masers, NH3(1,1) and NH3(2,2) lines, and Hydrogen recombination lines (H66α). Although five H2O masers were detected in the initial survey of 206 regions towards M31, we do not detect additional masers in a follow up survey of 300 similar luminous 24 μm regions. We do not detect NH...

The last few months have seen the measurements of the radial velocities of all of the dwarf spheroidal companions to the Andromeda galaxy (M31) using the spectrographs (HIRES and LRIS) on the Keck Telescope. This paper summarises the data on the radial velocities and distances for all the companion galaxies and presents new dynamical modelling to estimate the mass of extended halo of M31. The b...

We present several different statistical methods to determine the transverse velocity vector of M31. The underlying assumptions are that the M31 satellites on average follow the motion of M31 through space, and that the galaxies in the outer parts of the Local Group on average follow the motion of the Local Group barycenter through space. We apply the methods to the line-of-sight velocities of ...