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South Africa’s powerful MeerKAT radio telescope, located in the Northern Cape, has made yet another astronomical discovery.

After discovering two giant radio galaxies earlier this year, the MeerKAT has unveiled even more mysteries of the universe.

The mega-telescope has brought to light an amazing 20 previously undiscovered galaxies.

Take a moment to let that settle in.

The South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) made a statement yesterday about the large galaxy group, which is likely the most neutral hydrogen gas-rich group ever discovered, reports ITWeb.

SARAO also noted that the discovery is all the more surprising given that this group of galaxies resides in a well-studied area of the sky.

It is rare to detect a group of galaxies with such a large number of group members that have so much neutral hydrogen.

Observing this hydrogen gas is important because it allows astronomers to understand the evolutionary processes that take place in galaxies.

So the galaxy group looks to still be in the process of assembling, as it has not undergone the evolutionary processes that would remove this gas.

Cape Town Etc has some more starry facts:

The cold neutral hydrogen gas is what “acts as the raw fuel from which stars can eventually form.”

So if galaxies were gardens, then the group is like a flowerbed for budding stars.

Image: Shilpa Ranchod/MIGHTEE/HSC project

The galaxies influence each other, too, according to Shilpa Ranchod, an MSc student at the University of Pretoria and the lead author of a paper detailing the discovery:

“The distribution of neutral hydrogen gas in these galaxies has revealed interesting, disturbed morphologies, suggesting these galaxies are group members and are being influenced by their cosmic neighbours in the group.

“For example, we found an interacting pair of galaxies that will potentially merge to form a new galaxy with a completely transformed appearance.”

The observatory said the galaxy group was discovered by the MeerKAT International Gigahertz Tiered Extragalactic Exploration (MIGHTEE) survey.

MIGHTEE is one of the large survey projects in progress with the MeerKAT telescope and involves a team of South African and international astronomers.

The MeerKAT is the trailblazer for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), the highly-anticipated trans-continental telescope that will be used to watch the skies in South Africa and Australia from now through to 2027.

Together, they will make leaps and bounds in answering more fundamental questions about the formation and evolution of galaxies, as well as reveal other universal mysteries.

[sources:capetownetc&itweb]