I am an astrophysicist interested in understanding how stars, galaxies, and planetary systems evolve within their Galactic environment.

My research connects stellar astrophysics, Galactic archaeology, ultraviolet astronomy, and galaxy evolution, combining large astronomical surveys, statistical methods, and scientific computing.

Some of the questions I am currently interested in are:

• 🌌 How can Galactic archaeology help us reconstruct the history of the Milky Way?
• ⭐ What can unusual UV-bright stars tell us about stellar populations and the origin of the UV upturn in galaxies?
• 🧪 How do stellar chemical abundances, ages, and dynamics reveal where stars formed and how they migrated?
• 🪐 How does the Galactic environment affect the formation and long-term evolution of planetary systems?
• 🔭 How can we connect resolved stellar populations in the Milky Way with the integrated light of distant galaxies?

My work frequently combines spectroscopy, photometry, astrometry, Galactic dynamics, statistical modelling, and large astronomical catalogues.

Stellar Populations Hid IN uvX

SPHINX is a multi-scale research programme investigating the stellar populations responsible for ultraviolet emission and their connection to galaxy evolution.

The project links resolved stellar populations in the Milky Way and stellar systems with the integrated UV emission of galaxies, combining stellar astrophysics, Galactic archaeology, spectroscopy, photometry, and chemo-dynamics.

Tiny Gaia-ESO Survey + GALEX

T-GEX investigates UV-bright FGK stars in the Milky Way using Gaia-ESO spectroscopy together with GALEX ultraviolet observations.

The project explores their chemical abundances, ages, Galactic orbits, and birth environments, with the broader goal of understanding whether such stars can help explain the UV upturn observed in unresolved stellar populations.

I also investigate the birthplaces, migration histories, ages, and Galactic environments of planet-hosting stars — and what these can tell us about planetary evolution and habitability.

Most of my research lives somewhere between astronomical catalogues and a Jupyter notebook.

Languages

Things I regularly work with

Astropy · pandas · NumPy · SciPy · Matplotlib · scikit-learn · TOPCAT · Gaia · GALEX · Bayesian/statistical modelling

🌱 Currently expanding my Julia skills.

I am always interested in discussions and collaborations involving:

Galactic archaeology · stellar populations · stellar abundances · UV astronomy · galaxy evolution · exoplanet host stars · astrostatistics

If something here overlaps with what you are working on, feel free to get in touch.

📫 E-mail: mlldantas at protonmail dot com

😄 Pronouns: she/her

⚡ I can bend my thumb 90 degrees. 😝

☕ If you would like to support my work, you can buy me a coffee.