Astronomers accidentally discover 49 new galaxies in just 3 hours

A team of astronomers, using the MeerKAT radio telescopes located in South Africa, tried to study the star-forming gas in one radio galaxy. But instead, in just three hours, they discovered 49 new galaxies that are rich in gas. The Galaxies were named the 49ers.

Marcin Glowacki, researcher at the International Center for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) at Curtin University in Western Australia, the head of the research, considers the 49 new galaxies to be "gold nuggets" for astronomers. In his opinion, their discovery could be as accidental as the discovery of the first grains of gold at Sutter's sawmill in Coloma, which marked the beginning of the California gold rush in 1848.

"I didn't expect to find almost 50 new galaxies in such a short time. "Using different galaxy-finding methods that have been used in other MeerKAT surveys, we were able to find all of these galaxies and identify the gas they contain," Glowacki said.

Many of the 49 newly discovered galaxies are located close to each other and form galaxy clusters.