Yao-Yuan Mao

‘Vast discovery’ of black holes in dwarf galaxies - @theU New U-led research from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument reveals 300 new intermediate-mass black holes and 2,500 dwarf galaxies with active black holes, tripling the existing census for both.

So happy to see Dr. Raga Pucha's awesome work on identifying black holes (and candidates) in low-mass galaxies using the DESI data!

DESI Uncovers 300 New Intermediate-Mass Black Holes Plus 2500 New Active Black Holes in Dwarf Galaxies - The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument discovers a treasure trove of active black holes in dw... Within the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument’s early data, scientists have uncovered the largest samples ever of intermediate-mass black holes and dwarf galaxies hosting an active black hole, more ...

Excited about this press release on Raga's great work finding elusive intermediate-mass black holes in galaxies! This project started during her PhD. Nice to see it come to fruition & also a glimpse of what the future holds with now much more DESI data in hand 🤩🔭

noirlab.edu/public/news/...

Letter from the SSE/SSB/ASN councils on the scientific understanding of sex and gender, pls RT

LGBTQIA+ progress flag.

There is no LGB without the TQIA+

We stand together or we fall together.
🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️

It was really nice to come back to Pittsburgh to see friends and talk about the SAGA Survey.

Wow that translation was really bad... Here's what it says:

Rich in calcium, protein
Filling contains > 12% imported cheese powder
100% imported cocoa powder
0 trans fat

Where did the iron and turmeric come from?? 🤦

Astronomy and Astrophysics Outlist Outlist and ally list for LGBTQIA+ members in the astronomy and astrophysics community

(Just realized that I haven't advertized the Astronomy and Astrophysics Outlist on this platform.)

If you are an LGBTQ+ 🏳️‍🌈 astronomers/astrophysicists (or an ally) and are comfortable of being out, you can join the Astro Outlist to help increase LGBTQ+ visibility and connect with local community!

Lovely! Hope it goes well!

Images of 378 SAGA satellites, sorted by r-band absolute magnitude within each of the 101 complete systems that have satellites. Four of the 101 systems have the same level of survey completeness but do not have any confirmed satellites. The images of host galaxies are not included. The colors of the frames are assigned by the number of satellites. Images are taken from DESI Imaging DR9 (Dey et al. 2019). The width and height of each image correspond to 40 arcsec.

I was so lucky to be looped into SAGA Survey when I was still a second-year grad student. This amazing project is such an important part of my professional journey. It is so wonderful to work with this group of people. ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

Now go check out these beautiful satellites in our papers and e-posters!!

Pictures of the SAGA team members: Marla Geha (Yale), Yao-Yuan Mao (U Utah), Risa Wechsler (Stanford), Nitya Kallivayalil (U Virginia), Erik Tollerud (STScI), Ben Weiner (U Arizona), Ethan Nadler (Carnegie/USC), Yunchong (Richie) Wang (Stanford), Yasmeen Asali (Yale), Erin Kado-Fong (Yale), Mia de los Reyes (Amherst College), John F. Wu (Stsci)

It is ONLY through the team effort that the SAGA Survey reaches this major milestone: the fearless Marla Geha and Risa Wechsler, and an amazing team: Nitya, Erik, Ben, Ethan, Richie, Yasmeen, Erin, Mia, and John!

A screenshot of the SAGA Survey website that highlights the three SAGA DR3 papers: PAPER III: 101 SATELLITE SYSTEMS. SAGA DR3 includes 378 satellites identified across 101 MW-mass systems. The number of confirmed satellites per system ranges from 0 to 13, in the stellar mass range 10^6−10 solar masses. PAPER IV: STAR-FORMING PROPERTIES. SAGA satellites that have lower masses or are closer to the host galaxy are more likely to be quenched. This data enable use to study the environmental processes that suppress or quench star formation. PAPER V: COMPARING WITH MODELS. Using SAGA DR3 data to constrain an updated version of the Universe Machine model, we can directly test whether environmental quenching can be modeled by halo assembly histories.

Three SAGA Survey DR3 papers on arXiv:

3️⃣ 2404.14498 - survey overview & main results
4️⃣ 2404.14499 - satellites' star-forming properties
5️⃣ 2404.14500 - comparison with theoretical models

We also made "e-posters" that summarize the major points! Find the links on our website.

A screenshot of the homepage of SAGA Survey Data Release 3 website, with background filled with SAGA satellite images.

It's very fitting that my first post here is about this important milestone for the SAGA Survey and for myself personally!

The SAGA Survey characterizes satellite galaxy systems around Milky Way-mass galaxies, and we just posted our major results from our Data Release 3! Check arXiv & our website!

This is a really rich analysis and data set, made possible by Elise Darragh-Ford, @yymao.bsky.social, Risa Wechsler, @jegpeek.bsky.social, and many others!

You can now access some of the data from the the DESI Early Data Release. Stay tuned for even more!