Achi news desk-
Dozens of new space galaxies have been discovered in an international effort led by Australian astronomers.
A total of 49 gas-rich galaxies were revealed in less than three hours by the MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa.
The aim of the research was to study the gas that forms stars in one galaxy but instead an examination of the data revealed others.
The group of galaxies, discovered through the discovery of 49 different gases, was nicknamed “49ers” in reference to the miners of the California gold rush of 1849.
Dr Marcin Glowacki, from Curtin University’s branch of the International Center for Radio Astronomy Research, led the research and said evolving technology had helped the discovery happen.
“I didn’t expect to find nearly fifty new galaxies in such a short period of time,” he said.
“By applying different techniques for finding galaxies, which are used for other MeerKAT surveys, we were able to detect all these galaxies and reveal their gas content.”
Three galaxies are directly connected by their gas.
“These three are particularly interesting, because by studying the galaxies at other wavelengths of light, we discovered that the central galaxy forms many stars,” said Dr Glowacki.
“It is likely to steal the gas from its companion galaxies to fuel its star formation, which could lead to the other two being inactive.”
Dr Glowacki said he had recently discovered more gas-rich galaxies with the help of summer students, who worked with him and analyzed short observations made by MeerKAT.
“We hope to continue our studies and share even more discoveries of gas-rich new galaxies with the wider community soon,” said Dr Glowacki.
The research has been published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
