Nikko (Supakorn) Juengsophonvitavas FRAS

About

I am a recent MPhys Astrophysics graduate from Thailand, currently enrolled in the MLitt Management course in Scotland. I am interested in pursuing a PhD in high-energy transient astronomy to study phenomena such as Fast Radio Bursts and astrophysical objects, including pulsars and active galactic nuclei (AGNs). I find the observational and computational aspects of Astrophysics to be the most fascinating, and I have spent numerous hours studying and researching both. For the full list of what I have done, make sure to check out my experience and how to contact me.

In preparation for the LSST campaign, I investigated the feasibility of continuum reverberation mapping studies of AGNs using LSST data for my dissertation . I combined an analytical model of AGN with stochastic variability time-series methods to generate synthetic light curves under realistic cadence and noise conditions. I incorporated ray-tracing software to simulate throughput effects and implemented input optimisation techniques to enhance computational efficiency and maximise output volume. These results will support the planning of AGN monitoring campaigns throughout LSST’s 10-year survey, with particular attention to cadence sensitivity and signal-to-noise thresholds across different AGN populations.

As part of my Laidlaw Scholarship, I conducted a research project which involved developing scalable data reduction pipelines to process over 2.6 million archival sources using multi-wavelength sky surveys, with the aim of identifying AGN candidates in the Northern Ecliptic Pole for the SPHEREx mission. Using data mining approaches, I performed data imputation, feature engineering, and cross-matching to produce a high-completeness dataset, which was selected for follow-up by the Las Cumbres Observatory.

Since September 2025, I have been undertaking an MLitt in Management at the University of St Andrews, where I continue to conduct astrophysics research. Building on the knowledge and experience from my dissertation, I am writing a paper in collaboration with Dr Hernández Santisteban and Prof Keith Horne, at the University of St Andrews, on reverberation mapping of the Markarian 1044, a narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy, using optical data from Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO), along with UV and X-ray data from the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory (Juengsophonvitavas, S. et al, in prep). As the only trained student observer at the 3’ James Gregory Telescope (JGT) in St Andrews this academic year, I assist in training and supervising new student observers and collect high-cadence photometric data for the Hunting Outbursting Young Stars project, a long-term multi-filter optical photometric monitoring of young star clusters and star-forming regions visible from the northern hemisphere (Froebrich, D. et al, 2018).

On the observational front, I am proficient in both AZ and Equatorial mounts for manual and electronic refractor and reflector telescopes. I have been a part of the University of St Andrews Astronomical Society for the past 4 years, having acted as both the President and the Senior Observing Director. I worked on the newly installed robotic telescope at the university's observatory over the summer.

Apart from working on Astrophysics, I am also keen on performing magic as a form of performance art. I have travelled the world and attended numerous Magic conventions, as well as some competitions. Imagine the Olympics, but it's for magic! I normally perform card magic, but I do have some parlour tricks up my sleeves, and I would be excited to share them with you

Dissertation

Mid-Dissertation Poster

Dissertation

This project aims to investigate the variability of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) by simulating data from the upcoming Vera C. Rubin Observatory, formerly known as the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), which will have its first light in 2025. With an expected 20TB/night of data, an effective strategy must be devised early to study the AGNs. In addition to the variability, the intrinsic luminosity of the AGN provides information on its physical properties, allowing us to constrain our AGN models further. The goal is to determine the feasibility of studying AGNs with different properties at varying redshifts throughout the 10-year Legacy Survey of Space and Time mission. To achieve this, I simulated light curves from AGNs with range of physical properties and redshifts. Using the LSST Photon Simulator (PhoSim), we can realistically assess the quality of the variability measurements, and observation time is required to determine the AGN’s intrinsic luminosity. This will allow us to determine suitable AGNs to study at different periods of the LSST mission. With the addition of the LSST Operation Simulator (OpSim), we can extrapolate our results across the entire field observed by the LSST.

Please get in touch if you would like access to the generated synthetic data. The full pipeline is planned to be released after the Galactic and Extragalactic Astrophysics in the UK at the E.A. Milne Centre in Hull on January 22th-23th 2026.

Experience

Leadership & Position

Research

Work Experience & Internship

Tutoring

Other

Contact

You can contact me via my university email sj91@st-andrews.ac.uk or reach me via any of the platform below. A general version of my CV is attached here.

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Elements

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