During their cosmic exploration, a group of international astronomers stumbled upon an unexpected bounty – 49 new galaxies. And incredibly, they made this discovery within a mere three-hour timeframe. Talk about striking celestial gold!
The Surprising Discovery
The astronomers were originally searching the sky using the MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa, which they were using to study star-forming gas in a single radio galaxy. While they did not find the targeted gas, they ended up discovering gas from nearly fifty other galaxies when they inspected the data.
Marcin Glowacki of Curtin University in Western Australia acknowledged the remarkable find. He pointed out how the MeerKAT telescope serves as a wonderful tool for detecting star-forming gas in galaxies. “I never expected to find nearly fifty new galaxies in such a short time”, he gushed. “Through different techniques for finding galaxies, we were able to detect them all and reveal their gaseous content.”
The Unprecedented Feat
This find, made in just three hours, is truly a unique achievement. “We have never seen so many galaxies in such a short time,” the researcher stated. The newly discovered galaxies have been temporarily named ’49ers’, a nod to the gold miners of 1849 in California. Indeed, to the astronomers, these new galaxies are as precious as nuggets of gold, but in the night sky instead.
A Treasure Trove of Galaxies
Many of these galaxies are located close to each other, forming clusters with several observed in a single viewing. Interestingly, three galaxies were directly connected to each other by their gas.
“These three are of particular interest. As we studied these galaxies at different wavelengths of light, we discovered that the galaxy in the middle is far outpacing the others in star formation. It likely siphons off gas from its neighbors to form stars, potentially rendering the other two inactive. We are witnessing a live example of galaxy evolution,” Glowacki explains.
The Power of the MeerKAT Telescope
“The MeerKAT telescope once again proves its brute force with this discovery. Moreover, the methods we developed to study the 49’ers will be useful for MeerKAT’s larger surveys as well as smaller observations like ours.”
The discovery was not entirely unforeseen. Prior to this, gas-rich galaxies have been found in other short MeerKAT observations. “We hope to continue with our studies and soon share more discoveries about new gas-rich galaxies”, Glowacki concluded.
