Dr Marcin Glowacki from the Curtin University node at the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) in Western Australia led the study, which aims to study star-forming gases in a radio galaxy. While the team didn't find any star-forming gas in the galaxies they studied, Dr. Lovatsky found other galaxies while examining the data.
They detected gas from 49 galaxies in one go, and Dr. Glowacki says is a great example of how amazing an instrument like MeerKAT can be in discovering star-forming gas in galaxies.
Using South Africa's MeerKAT radio telescope, an international team of astronomers discovered 49 new galaxies in less than three hours. Source: ICRAR
The discovery was made possible by observations lasting less than three hours with the assistance of IDIA (Inter-University Institute for Data-Intensive Astronomy).
"I didn't expect to discover nearly 50 new galaxies in such a short period of time," he said. By employing different techniques used in other MeerKAT surveys to find galaxies, we were able to detect all of them and reveal their gas content. "
Four neighboring galaxies out of 49 galaxies discovered by MeerCAT, shown by white contours. Three of these galaxies are connected together because of their gas content. The largest galaxy is stealing gas from two neighboring galaxies. Background color image from DECaLS DR10 Optical Sky Survey. Source: ICRAR
These new galaxies are informally nicknamed the "49", a reference to the miners during the 1849 California Gold Rush. Dr. Lovatsky believes that these 49 new galaxies are as precious as gold nuggets in our night sky. Many galaxies are in close proximity to each other, forming groups of galaxies, and several galaxies have been discovered in a single observation. The three galaxies are directly connected by gas.
MoreCAT 检测到的个别气体检测示例。 资料来源:ICRAR
"These three galaxies are particularly interesting because by studying them with other wavelengths of light, we found that many stars are forming in the central galaxy," Dr. Lovatsky said. It is likely that it will steal gas from its companion galaxies to facilitate star formation, which could cause the other two galaxies to become inactive".
Professor Ed Elson of the University of the Western Cape, co-author of the paper, said: "This discovery highlights the power of the MeerKAT telescope as an imaging instrument. The methodology we have developed and implemented to study 49ers will be very useful for MeerKAT large-scale scientific surveys and small-scale observational activities like ours. "
49 galaxies – 49 gas-rich galaxies newly detected by the MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa. Each detected galaxy is represented by colored contours, with red for gas farther away from us and blue for gas that is nearer. Background image from Optical PanSTARRS survey. Image source: ICRAR
Dr. Glovacki recently discovered more gas-rich galaxies with the help of Jasmine White, a summer student at the International Center for Astronomical Research.
"We hope to continue our research and share more discoveries of new gas-rich galaxies with the wider community as soon as possible," Dr Glowacki said. "
编译来源：ScitechDaily