Milky Way-mass hosts
ELVES
A Local Volume survey of satellites around Milky Way-mass host galaxies.
30 Hosts
338 Satellites
The ELVES Surveys
A coordinated family of surveys characterizing the dwarf-galaxy populations around Milky Way analogs (ELVES), around dwarf hosts (ELVES-Dwarf), and in the field (ELVES-Field).
ELVES Surveys Family
Three Local Volume Samples of Dwarf Galaxies
Dwarf hosts
ELVES-Dwarf
A Local Volume survey of satellites around dwarf host galaxies.
39 Hosts
32 Satellites
Field dwarfs
ELVES-Field
A Local Volume survey of dwarf galaxies in the field.
53 Field dwarfs
Papers
Featured papers
The core ELVES survey paper defining dwarf satellite systems around Milky Way-like galaxies in the Local Volume.
First result of ELVES-Dwarf: presenting satellite systems of eight isolated dwarf galaxies using HSC data
The ELVES-Field sample of nearby isolated dwarf galaxies and a first look at the field-dwarf mass function.
No papers match the selected filters.
Data
Data access
Public catalogs and documentation are organized by survey. Each survey page includes the relevant catalogs, distance measurements, imaging products, completeness information, and citation guidance.
ELVES
Data products for Milky Way-mass host satellite systems.
ELVES-Dwarf
Data products for dwarf-host satellite systems.
ELVES-Field
Data products for isolated field dwarfs.
Citation
Contact and Citation
If you use data products from these surveys, please cite the core survey paper and/or relevant science papers. If you have questions about the data, please contact the survey team via email.
Carlsten et al. 2022, ApJ, 933, 47
@ARTICLE{Carlsten2022,
author = {{Carlsten}, Scott G. and {Greene}, Jenny E. and
{Beaton}, Rachael L. and {Danieli}, Shany and {Greco}, Johnny P.},
title = "{The Exploration of Local VolumE Satellites (ELVES) Survey:
A Nearly Volume-limited Sample of Nearby Dwarf Satellite Systems}",
journal = {\apj},
year = 2022,
volume = {933},
pages = {47},
doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/ac6fd7}
}Li et al. 2026, ApJ, 1002, 75
@ARTICLE{Li2026,
author = {{Li}, Jiaxuan and {Greene}, Jenny E. and {Danieli}, Shany and
{Carlsten}, Scott G. and {Geha}, Marla and {Jiang}, Fangzhou and
{Tanaka}, Masayuki},
title = "{ELVES-Dwarf. I. Satellite Systems of Eight Isolated Dwarf
Galaxies in the Local Volume}",
journal = {\apj},
year = 2026,
volume = {1002},
pages = {75},
doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/ae4495}
}Carlsten et al. 2026, ApJ, 1001, 244
@ARTICLE{Carlsten2026field,
author = {{Carlsten}, Scott G. and {Li}, Jiaxuan and {Greene}, Jenny E. and
{Drlica-Wagner}, Alex and {Danieli}, Shany},
title = "{A Sample of Nearby Isolated Dwarf Galaxies: A First Look at
the Mass Function of Field Dwarfs}",
journal = {\apj},
year = 2026,
volume = {1001},
pages = {244},
doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/ae4c5c}
}