Research

Radio stars in the MeerKAT Galactic Plane Survey

I am an astronomer at the University of Cape Town and the South African Astronomical Observatory. PhD Astronomy, UCT (Apr 2021–Jul 2026, Thesis Submitted). Advisors: Prof. David Buckley and Prof. Paul Groot.

Thesis: Multiwavelength Study of the SARAO MeerKAT Galactic Plane Point Sources. I built and statistically validated a large-scale radio–optical–X-ray cross-matching pipeline: 443,455 MeerKAT sources against Gaia DR3 and ROSAT/eROSITA, yielding 629 high-confidence stellar counterparts — the largest radio-optical cross-match sample of its kind to date.

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Education

PhD, Astronomy (Thesis Submitted Jul 2026), University of Cape Town. Advisors: Prof. David Buckley and Prof. Paul Groot.
MSc Physics (Astrophysics), Dec 2019, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Thesis: Photometric Study of White Dwarf Pulsar AR Scorpii. Advisor: Dr. F. I. Odoh.
BSc (Hons) Physics & Astronomy, Aug 2014, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

Research Interests

Variable stars: chromospherically active stars, radio stars, flare stars, X-ray stars, young stellar objects, transients, spectroscopy and photometry in observational astrophysics.
Stellar–planet interactions: brown dwarfs, exoplanets.
Statistical / machine learning: multi-wavelength cross-correlation, regression, classification, clustering, anomaly detection, deep learning, generative AI research.

Selected Results

Stellar Counterparts in the MeerKAT Galactic Plane Survey

443,455 SMGPS radio sources cross-matched against Gaia DR3 with Monte Carlo reliability modelling: 94% reliability at 2 arcsec via population-informed matching, yielding 629 stellar counterparts. Color-magnitude classification and radio-luminosity validation (Kendall's τ = 0.46).

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X-ray Counterparts & the Güdel-Benz Relation

Cross-match of the 629 stellar candidates against ROSAT and eROSITA catalogs to test coronal radio/X-ray scaling laws and characterize chromospheric and coronal activity in radio-selected stars.

Read full analysis A&A

Publications

Egbo, O. D., Buckley, D. A. H., Groot, P. J., Mogawana, O., van Dyk, A., Tampo, Y. & de Wet, S. (2026). Chromospherically Active Stars in the MeerKAT Galactic Plane Survey. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, in press (2026), doi:10.1093/mnras/stag1821 (published online).
Brink, J., Groot, Buckley, D. A. H., Veresvarska, M., Schwope, A. D., Groot, P. J., Thorstensen, J. R., Cúneo, V. A., Potter, S. B., Titus, N., Egbo, O. D., Lees, R., Mogawana, O., & van Dyk, A. (2026). The optical photometric and spectroscopic periodicities of the cataclysmic variable SRGt 062340.2-265751. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 707, A25.
Egbo, O. D., Groot, P. J., Buckley, D. A. H., Robrade, J., Schwope, A. D., Freund, S., Schneider, P. C. & Stelzer, B. (2026). X-ray counterparts to stellar MeerKAT Galactic-plane compact radio sources. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 707, A193.
Egbo, O. D., Buckley, D. A. H., Groot, P. J., Cavallaro, F., Woudt, P. A., Thompson, M. A., Mutale, M. & Bietenholz, M. (2025). The stellar population in the SARAO MeerKAT Galactic Plane Survey. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 540(3), pp.2685-2702.
Erasmus, N., Steele, I. A., Piascik, A. S., Bates, S. D., Mottram, C. J., Rosie, K. A., ... & Egbo, O. D. (2024). Mookodi: multi-purpose low-resolution spectrograph and multi-filter photometric imager for rapid follow-up observations of astronomical transient events. Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems, 10(2), 025005.
Potter, S. B., Buckley, D. A., Scaringi, S., Monageng, I. M., Egbo, O. D., Charles, P. A., ... & Hlakola, M. (2024). Optical spectroscopic and photometric classification of the X-ray transient EP240309a as an intermediate polar. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, 532(1), L21-L26.
Goedhart, S., Cotton, W. D., Camilo, F., Thompson, M. A., Umana, G., Bietenholz, M., ... & Egbo, O. D. ... & Williams, L. P. (2024). The SARAO MeerKAT 1.3 GHz Galactic Plane Survey. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 531(1), 649-681.
Garnavich, P., Potter, S. B., Buckley, D. A., van Dyk, A., Egbo, O. D., Littlefield, C., & Greiveldinger, A. (2023). Rapid Evolution of the White Dwarf Pulsar AR Scorpii. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 958(2), L22.
O'Connor, B., Kouveliotou, C., Evans, P. A., Gorgone, N., Van Kooten, A. J., Gagnon, S., ... & Egbo, O. D. ... & Younes, G. (2023). The Swift Deep Galactic Plane Survey (DGPS) Phase I catalog. The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 269(2), 49.

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Talks & Posters

Contributed talks

5th Annual AfAS Conference, UNISA Johannesburg, 2025: Corona and Chromospheric Active Stars from the SARAO MeerKAT Galactic Plane Survey.
4th Annual AfAS Conference, Marrakech, 2024: Multi-wavelength Study of Galactic Point Sources in the MeerKAT GPS with Gaia DR3.
Surveying the Milky Way, Pasadena, 2023: same title.
ThunderKAT Workshop, Oxford, 2023: same title.
The Milky Way Revealed by Gaia, Barcelona, 2023: same title.

Posters

IAU General Assembly, Cape Town, 2024 (Division G-3).
MeerKAT@5 Conference, Stellenbosch, 2024.

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Specialised Workshops

IAIFI Summer School, Aug 2026.
Harvard AstroAI Workshop, Jun 2026.
AI in Radio Astronomy: Preparing the UK for the SKA Data Future, Edinburgh, Mar 2026.
LSST Workshop at IAU GA, Cape Town, Aug 2024.
Oxford Machine Learning Summer School, May 2023.
COSPAR X-ray Vision School, North-West University Potchefstroom, Feb 2023.
ZTF Summer School, Aug 2021; ESCAPE Summer School, Jun 2021; GROWTH School, Aug 2020.

Observational Experience

September 2026: Southern African Large Telescope (SALT; RSS and HRS) — one-week observing run.
2023–2025: SAAO 1.9m telescope, SpUPNIC spectrograph (multiple runs).
2021: SAAO 1.0m telescope, SHOC photometric instrument (multiple runs).

Service & Leadership

Judge, 6th Big Data Africa School (DARA), Oct 2026.
Lead Facilitator, BRICS Astronomy & IDIA Data Analytics Program, May–Jul 2025 and May–Jul 2026.
Volunteer / Mentor, 5th Big Data Africa School (DARA), Sep 2024–Mar 2025.
Trainer, International School of Young Astronomers (ISYA), SAAO, Nov–Dec 2023.
Volunteer, IAU General Assembly, Cape Town, Aug 2024.
SAAO Open Night (bimonthly talks, tours, star gazing), Aug 2022–Present.

Grants & Scholarships

Royal Society Support Grant, Mar 2026 — visit to The Open University, UK for machine learning in data-intensive astronomy.
SAAO PhD Prize Scholarship, 2021–2024.
Breakthrough Listen Travel Grant, ThunderKAT Oxford, Sep 2023.
AGNES Intra-Africa Mobility Grant, SAAO visit, Sep–Nov 2018.

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Computational Skills

Languages: Python (7y, proficient), R (4y), LaTeX (6y), Bash scripting, Linux (6y).
Astronomy stack: Astropy, ADQL, TOPCAT, IRAF/pyRAF, CARTA, DS9.
Data: PostgreSQL (3y), BigQuery (3y), EDA / visualisation / feature engineering (6y), numerical methods & cross-correlation (4y).
ML: Regression / classification / clustering (5y), MLOps FTI concepts (3y), deep learning incl. diffusion & transfer (3y), GPU/CUDA workflows (2y).

Contact

Open to postdoctoral positions in radio / time-domain / multi-wavelength astrophysics and data-intensive astronomy. Cape Town, South Africa. Contact: egbo@saao.ac.za · ORCID · Scholar

References: available in Academic CV (PDF). Referee emails are intentionally omitted from HTML.

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