Steven Scott Vogt (born December 20, 1949) is an American
astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies – in either o ...
of
German descent whose main interest is the search for
extrasolar planet
An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first possible evidence of an exoplanet was noted in 1917 but was not recognized as such. The first confirmation of detection occurred in 1992. A different planet, init ...
s.
He is credited, along with
R. Paul Butler, for discovering
Gliese 581 g, the first potentially habitable planet outside of the
Solar System
The Solar System Capitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar ...
.
He is a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the
University of California, Santa Cruz
The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California system. Located on Monterey Bay, on the edge ...
,
and is known worldwide for designing and building
HIRES, a high-resolution optical spectrometer mounted permanently on the
W. M. Keck Observatory 10-meter telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. HIRES is an instrument critical to observations and discoveries about the planets, stars, galaxies, and the universe.
Vogt also built the Hamilton spectrometer at
Lick Observatory (with which most of the first extrasolar planets were discovered).
In 1987, earlier in his career, Vogt invented the technique of "
Doppler imaging
Inhomogeneous structures on stellar surfaces, i.e. temperature differences, chemical composition or magnetic fields, create characteristic distortions in the spectral lines due to the Doppler effect. These distortions will move across spectral lin ...
" for mapping the surface features of stars.
Vogt is currently a member of the
California-Carnegie Planet Search Team.
This team is building a new telescope in the Lick Observatory, the
Automated Planet Finder, expected to be the most powerful in the world for detecting extrasolar planets. It will be able to track planets moving at velocities as little as 1 meter per second (the speed of a walking man).
Vogt and his team are credited with detecting a majority of the 100 planets now known.
Vogt received his bachelor's degrees in Physics and Astronomy from the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
, in 1972, his Master of Science degree in Astronomy from
UT Austin in 1976, and Ph.D in Astronomy from UT Austin in 1978.
He's been a member of the
University of California Observatories (UCO) at Lick Observatory since 1978.
Planets discovered
*
55 Cancri f
55 Cancri f (abbreviated 55 Cnc f), also designated Rho1 Cancri f and formally named Harriot , is an exoplanet approximately 41 light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Cancer (the Crab). 55 Cancri f is the fourth known planet (in ord ...
, with coauthors
Debra Fischer,
Paul Butler,
Geoffrey Marcy
Geoffrey William Marcy (born September 29, 1954) is an American astronomer. He was an early influence in the field of exoplanet detection, discovery, and characterization. Marcy was a professor of astronomy at the University of California, Berke ...
(Vogt's first
graduate student
Postgraduate or graduate education refers to academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor's) degree.
The organization and st ...
), ''et al.'', published by
Science Daily
''Science Daily'' is an American website launched in 1995 that aggregates press releases and publishes lightly edited press releases (a practice called churnalism) about science, similar to Phys.org and EurekAlert!.
The site was founded by ...
, 6 November 2007.
* the controverted
Gliese 581 g planet, with co-investigator Paul Butler, 29 September 2010.
Prizes
*1983
**
Bergmann Memorial Award, for Vogt's ''High Speed Observations of Be Stars Associated with X-Ray Sources.''
*1995
**
Maria and Eric Muhlmann Award - The award for ''recent observations using innovative advances in astronomical instrumentation, software, or observational infrastructure.''
*2002
**
Beatrice M. Tinsley Prize
The Beatrice M. Tinsley Prize is awarded every other year by the American Astronomical Society in recognition of an outstanding research contribution to astronomy or astrophysics of an exceptionally creative or innovative character. The prize is na ...
, for Vogt, Geoffrey Marcy, and Paul Butler on their ''Pioneering work in characterizing planetary systems orbiting distant stars.''
**
Carl Sagan Memorial Award - The award for ''an individual who has demonstrated leadership in research or policies advancing exploration of the Cosmos.''
Books
*Steven Scott Vogt
''A magnetic study of the spotted UV Ceti flare stars and related late-type dwarfs'' s.n., 1978.
*Steven Scott Vogt
''HIRES, a high resolution echelle spectrometer for the Keck ten-meter telescope: phase C, HIRES core''- Issue 57 of Lick Observatory technical reports. University of California Observatories/Lick Observatory, 1991
*Steven Scott Vogt
''HIRES user's manual''- Issue 67 of Lick Observatory technical reports. Lick Observatory, 1994.
*Steven Scott Vogt
''A thorium-argon line atlas for the Keck HIRES spectrometer''- Issue 88 of Lick Observatory technical reports. Lick Observatory, 1999.
See also
*
Discoveries of extrasolar planets
*
Radial velocity
The radial velocity or line-of-sight velocity, also known as radial speed or range rate, of a target with respect to an observer is the rate of change of the distance or range between the two points. It is equivalent to the vector projection ...
*
Science Buddies
Science Buddies, formerly the Kenneth Lafferty Hess Family Charitable Foundation, is a non-profit organization that provides a website of free science project productivity tools and mentoring to support K-12 students, especially for science fairs ...
References
External links
Home pageat
University of California Observatories (UCO)/
Lick Observatory
* at Vogt's home page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vogt, Steven S.
Living people
1949 births
American astronomers
Discoverers of exoplanets
UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni
University of Texas at Austin College of Natural Sciences alumni
University of California, Santa Cruz faculty
Lick Observatory
Winners of the Beatrice M. Tinsley Prize