The intrinsic ellipticity of dwarf spheroidal galaxies: constraints from
  the Andromeda system
  We present a study of the intrinsic deprojected ellipticity distribution of
the satellite dwarf galaxies of the Andromeda galaxy, assuming that their
visible components have a prolate shape, which is a natural outcome of
simulations. Different possibilities for the orientation of the major axis of
the prolate dwarf galaxies are tested, pointing either as close as possible to
the radial direction towards the centre of Andromeda, or tangential to the
radial direction, or with a random angle in the plane that contains the major
axis and the observer. We find that the mean intrinsic axis ratio is ~ 1/2,
with small differences depending on the assumed orientation of the population.
Our deprojections also suggest that a significant fraction of the satellites, ~
10%, are tidally disrupted remnants. We find that there is no evidence of any
obvious difference in the morphology and major axis orientation between
satellites that belong to the vast thin plane of co-rotating galaxies around
Andromeda and those that do not belong to this structure.
