  Using the spectroscopic New York University Value-Added Galaxy Catalogue and
the photometric photo-z catalogues of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release
7, we have explored the satellite distribution around ~1000 massive (M_star >
2x10^11 M_sun) visually classified elliptical galaxies down to a satellite mass
ratio of 1:400 (i.e. 5x10^8 < M_sat < 2x10^11 M_sun). Our host galaxies were
selected to be representative of a mass complete sample. The satellites of
these galaxies were searched within a projected radial distance of 100 kpc to
their hosts. We have found that only 20-23 per cent of the massive ellipticals
have at least a satellite down to a mass ratio 1:10. This number increases to
45-52 per cent if we explore satellites down to 1:100 and is $>$60-70 per cent
if we go further down to 1:400. The average projected radial distance of the
satellites to their hosts is ~59 kpc (which can be decreased at least down to
50 kpc if we account for incompleteness effects). The number of satellites per
galaxy host only increases very mildly at decreasing the satellite mass. The
fraction of mass which is contained in the satellites down to a mass ratio of
1:400 is 8 per cent of the total mass contained by the hosts. Satellites with a
mass ratio from 1:2 to 1:5 (with ~28 per cent of the total mass of the
satellites) are the main contributor to the total satellite mass. If the
satellites eventually infall into the host galaxies, the merger channel will be
largely dominated by satellites with a mass ratio down to 1:10 (as these
objects have 68 per cent of the total mass in satellites).
