Naimh McDermott

Systems Engineer - Réaltra Space Systems Engineering

The light that the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope collected to create this Picture of the Week reached the telescope after a journey of 250 million years. Its source was the spiral galaxy UGC 11397, which resides in the constellation Lyra (The Lyre). At first glance, UGC 11397 appears to be an average spiral galaxy: it sports two graceful spiral arms that are illuminated by stars and defined by dark, clumpy clouds of dust. What sets UGC 11397 apart from a typical spiral lies at its centre, where a supermassive black hole containing 174 million times the mass of the Sun is growing. As a black hole ensnares gas, dust, and even entire stars from its vicinity, this doomed matter heats up and puts on a fantastic cosmic light show. Material trapped by the black hole emits light from gamma rays to radio waves and can brighten and fade without warning. But in some galaxies, including UGC 11397, thick clouds of dust hide much of this energetic activity from view in optical light. Despite this, UGC 11397's actively growing black hole was revealed through its bright X-ray emission — high-energy light that can pierce the surrounding dust. This led astronomers to classify it as a Type 2 Seyfert galaxy, a category used for active galaxies whose central regions are hidden from view in visible light by a doughnut-shaped cloud of dust and gas. Using Hubble, researchers will study hundreds of galaxies that, like UGC 11397, harbour a supermassive black hole that is gaining mass. The Hubble observations will help researchers weigh nearby supermassive black holes, understand how black holes grew early in the Universe’s history, and even study how stars form in the extreme environment found at the very centre of a galaxy. [Image Description: A spiral galaxy, seen at an angle that gives it an oval shape. It has two spiral arms that curl out from the centre. They start narrow but broaden out as they wrap around the galaxy before merging into a faint halo. The galaxy’s disc is gold

I undertook a physics internship in NUIG for the summer of 2019 which introduced me to optical engineering for telescopes and during that time I learned to use to optical software that wasn’t taught on the undergraduate course. I interviewed for a graduate optical engineering role in the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s Rutherford Appleton Lab site in Oxford and managed to get the job before graduating college.

The job at RAL introduced me to working for space from an industry perspective as I was designing optics for satellites, and after 18 months I decided to come back to Ireland.

I applied to the advertisement on the Réaltra website looking for a space systems engineer and luckily, I got it!

A typical day for Niamh:
A typical day for me is going into work and checking my emails. Then, after that, I look to my diary as I like to organise my week the Friday before so that I can plan and get things done logically. Depending on the stage of the project my days are very different. If we are in the design and research phase, I write a lot of documents outlining component choices, future testing etc. and a lot of emails to potential suppliers and partners.

If we are in the development stage however much of my time is taken up with testing our product and writing up the test results.

I also like to make time checking in on my colleagues and seeing what they are working on, it’s good to take a break from your main project!

Top tip from Niamh for those interested in a similar career: Having a degree is a good starting point for getting into space. However, working in space requires many different disciplines and skills. Internships in companies or colleges that work in areas you find interesting will be crucial for letting you develop the skills you’ll need.

Personally, being motivated and willing to learn every day on the job are also crucial. If you’re somebody who likes to explore new ideas and you’re not afraid of the unknown, then a career in space could be for you.

Naimh McDermott

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