Thato Manamela

• South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) post-doctoral researcher, University of Pretoria

Dr Thato Manamela is a South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) post-doctoral researcher at the University of Pretoria (UP). He is the author of the ground-breaking study on hydroxyl megamasers. He obtained his Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree from the University of Limpopo and proceeded to the University of Cape Town to complete his BSc Honours in Astrophysics through the National Astrophysics and Space Science Programme.

Dr Manamela completed his Masters research at UP in 2021, where he also obtained a PhD in Physics and is currently prioritising his post-doctoral research.

He chose to do his research at UP due its strong radio astronomy links, access to major telescope collaborations such as MeerKAT, James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) and is a good environment for galaxy evolution science.

“I'm part of a research team working on galaxy evolution in the distant Universe.” he explains.“I collaborate across faculties at UP, when projects need signal processing, data science, or instrumentation input. The work usually sits between astrophysics, engineering, and computing.”

His field studies hydroxyl megamasers. They trace extreme star formation and galaxy mergers. This helps us understand how galaxies grow and evolve. This feeds into models of the Universe's structure and history. Beyond the stars, the technology developed to detect these signals, ranging from very sensitive radio receivers to complex data processing, paves the way for innovations in global communications and imaging technologies that benefit our everyday lives.

Dr Manamela's recent highlight is pushing lower limits work forward for megamaser detection. He completed his first author PhD paper. Throughout the past 18 months he was occupied with his PhD research and has continued to integrate this work into new postdoctoral research directions linked to large survey data.

He is inspired by large telescope projects and the individuals constructing them. Seeing African radio astronomy grow into a global player was a strong motivator.

“My supervisor Prof. Roger Deane is my role model. I value researchers who combine theory, observation, and instrumentation. The best scientists build tools and answer questions with them. That mindset shaped how I approach research.” says Dr Manamela

“My research matters because it probes extreme galaxy physics. Maser emission lets you measure conditions that you cannot see with normal optical methods. This will pave the way for upcoming scientists to continue the research. His aspiration is to help design surveys that detect rare extragalactic masers at scale.”

Outside of his scholarly endeavours he enjoys science communication, arcade game maintenance and keeping up with astronomy.

His advice to students who are interested in his field is to learn Maths and Physics fundamentals well and stay curious because his field rewards persistence and problem-solving.

• –present South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) post-doctoral researcher, University of Pretoria

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