Intro

This website is intended to host different kinds of projects that I am engaged in - whether it is related to my education or simply something I fancy doing in my spare time.
I plan on using this website as a way of showcasing my abilities with coding as a reminder of where I started and how far I have reached. In other words, it is strictly a personal site that can function as a timeline for my work and skills.

You can read more about me here or check out my work by guiding to the "Work" tab or simply by pressing the following link: Work


Work

Here you can find a selection of my projects, both from my education and personal projects. I have included links to the GitHub repositories where you can find the code and additional information about each project.

Project #1 - Single-component Universes

This first semester astrophysics project is a simple code showing the inflation and evolution of the universe consisting only of either; matter, radiation or dark energy.

Single-component Universe

Project #2 - ODE-Solver and the SIR Model

This second semester project was done during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-2021 and illustrates the spread of an infectious disease within a community. It solves three single order differential equations (the SIR-model) and shows the expected number/rate of infected people in a community.

SIR Model

Project #3 - Aperture photometry from FITS

During my 5th semester, I attempted to create a simple Python script that performs aperture photometry on a given set of FITS files.

Project #4 - Observation and color images using FUT

Throughtout my Bachelor's Degree at Aarhus University, I was part of a study group that worked with and taught high school students about observational astronomy and relevant data analysis. This was done using Aarhus University's remote controlled telescope located at Mt. Kent in Australia. This allowed me to plan and perform observations of astronomical objects and create stunning images together with one of my good friends, Magnus Uggerhøj. The objects observed and the images created can be seen below.

Helix Nebula
Trifid Nebula
Jupiter
Orion Nebula
First attempt of Pillars of Creation
Latest attempt of Pillars of Creation
Horsehead Nebula

Project #5 - Bachelor's Project

My final year project was supervised by Dr. Sergio Ioppolo and was titled Formation of Solid Methyl Formate and its Isomers in the Interstellar Medium . It was my first step into the world of laboratory astrochemistry where I learned about (non-)energetic ice processing and the formation of complex organic molecules on icy dust grains in the Interstellar Medium. I accompanied active PhD-students, Post Docs and professors in performing experiments on ice analogues irradiated with 1 MeV and 0.2 MeV ions and 200 keV electron performed at Atomki at the HUN-REN Institute for Nuclear Research in Debrecen, Hungary. Because of this oppotunity I have been an active part of performing some of the additional experiments, including VUV-UV experiments performed at ASTRID2 at the Department of Physics and Astronomy in Aarhus, Denmark. This was also the project that sparked the oppotunity to write my first, first-author paper on the formation of ethanol via ion and electron irradiation of pure and mixed interstellar relevant ice analogues at 1 and 0.2 MeV ions and 200 keV electrons, respectively.

Project #6 - Stellar Evolution Models

This project was done during my first semester of my Master's Degree in Astrophysics at the University of La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain. I studied the structure and evolution of stars spanning a broad mass (\(0.8 M_\odot \leq M \leq 40M_\odot\)) range using the Geneva Evolutionary Models with a metallicity of Z = 0.014 and no rotation. The first figure represents the central temperature-density diagram for selected masses. The ZAMS and TAMS have been represented by solid dots. The regions dominated by radiation pressure (light grey), ideal gas pressure (grey), electron degeneracy (dark grey), and relativistic electron degeneracy (black), are indicated. The second figure shows the evolution of central abundances of hydrogen, helium, carbon, and oxygen (top) and stellar radius (bottom) as a function of time. The phases include the MS, HG-RGB, BL, and AGB.

Central temperature-density plot Central abundances of elements

Project #7 - Eclipsing Binary with TESS

Throughout this group project at the University of La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain, I worked with a group of fellow students to analyze the light curve of an eclipsing binary star system using data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) for our course in "Basic Computational Techniques" (Técnicas Computationales Básicas). The image shows the Target Pixel Files (TPFs) from selected TESS Sectors for TIC 293937699 with a 1\(\sigma\) threshold. Obtained via the Python Package Lightkurve.

TPFs from selected TESS Sectors for TIC 293937699 with a 1 sigma threshold

About Me

Teide Observatory located in Tenerife, Spain
Teide Observatory located in Tenerife, Spain

Hello!

I am a years old physicist from Denmark. I graduated from Silkeborg Gymnasium in 2018 where my main courses were physics, mathematics, chemistry and Spanish. After finishing high school, I enlisted at the Queen's Guard and served for eight months. Subsequently, I traveled abroad to Asia to discover new cultures, religions and connections.

I graduated from Aarhus University, Denmark with a Bachelor's Degree in physics and astronomy. I decided to move to Tenerife, Spain to try new ways and experiences and fell in love with the island and its people.
Because of that I decided to pursue my Master's Degree in astrophysics at the University of La Laguna with a speciality in observational and instrumentational astronomy.

Throughout my education I have taken a lot of courses in astronomy and astrophysics. This has lead me to unique experiences, such as visiting the observatories at La Palma and Tenerife. I have gotten detailed descriptions and tours of Aarhus University's optical telescope located at La Palma (NOT) and their telescope located at Teide Observatory (SONG).

Selfie taken at the main mirror of the NOT (Nordic Optical Telescope) in La Palma, Spain
Selfie taken at the main mirror of the SONG telecope at Teide Observatory, Tenerife, Spain

During my final year undergrad project, I was invited by my supervisor, Dr. Sergio Ioppolo, to Atomki at the HUN-REN Institute for Nuclear Research in Debrecen, Hungary. Here I assisted with laboratory astrochemstry experiments which gave me invaluable experience in how to work in an active research field and how to collaborate with multiple researchers and professors. My final project was titled Formation of Solid Methyl Formate and its Isomers in the Interstellar Medium and can be downloaded via clicking the name or in the Work or Curriculum Vitae tab.
March 2023 Atomki team.
Feel free to have a look around or contact me either via e-mail or on any of the links provided.

- Mads Mikkelsen


Curriculum Vitae

Click to download

Education

Year Description Place
2024-2025 Master's Degree in Astrophysics (2 Semesters) University of La Laguna
2020-2023 Bachelor's Degree in Physics and Astronomy Aarhus University
2018-2019 Military Service The Royal Guard
2015-2018 High School Silkeborg Gymnasium

Publications

Year Title Authors Journal
In Prep. Formation of Ethanol via Electron and Ion Processing of H2CO and CH3OH Rich Ices Mikkelsen et al. Astronomy & Astrophysics
In Prep. Electron Induced Formation of Methyl Formate and its Isomers: A Systematic FTIR and VUV Spectroscopic Study Traspas Muiña et al. Astronomy & Astrophysics
In Prep. Proton Induced Formation of Methyl Formate and its Isomers: A Systematic FTIR Spectroscopic Study Traspas Muiña et al. Astronomy & Astrophysics
2024 DISCO-2 - An Ambitious Earth Observing Student CubeSat for Arctic Climate Research Dideriksen et al. Frontiers in Remote Sensing
2023 Formation of Solid Methyl Formate and its Isomers in the Interstellar Medium Mads Mikkelsen (Supervised by Dr. Sergio Ioppolo) Bachelor's Thesis

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