Steven S. Vogt

{{short description|American astronomer of German descent (born 1949)}}

{{BLP sources|date=October 2010}}

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Steven S. Vogt

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| caption = Steven Vogt in 2013.

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1949|12|20|mf=yes}}

| birth_place = Rock Island, Illinois, U.S.

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| nationality = American

| fields = *Astronomical instrumentation

• Optical design
• High-dispersion spectroscopy
• Exoplanet hunting

| workplaces = *University of California, Santa Cruz

• UCO/Lick Observatory

| alma_mater = *University of California, Berkeley (A.B., Physics, 1972, A.B., Astronomy, 1972)

• University of Texas at Austin (M.S., Astronomy, 1976, Ph.D., Astronomy, 1978)

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| doctoral_students = *Geoffrey Marcy

{{cite news |last=Overbye |first=Dennis |authorlink=Dennis Overbye |title=Finder of New Worlds |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/13/science/finder-of-new-worlds.html |date=12 May 2013 |work=New York Times |accessdate=13 May 2014 }}

| notable_students =

| known_for = *discovery of Gliese 581 g{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/29/AR2010092907706.html|title=Astronomers find first habitable planet outside solar system|last=Kaufman|first=Marc|date=30 September 2010|newspaper=The Washington Post|accessdate=5 October 2010}}

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Steven Scott Vogt (born December 20, 1949) is an American astronomer{{cite web |url= http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/planet_worldbook_update.html|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20061001100453/http://www1.nasa.gov/worldbook/planet_worldbook_update.html|url-status= dead|archive-date= 1 October 2006|title= NASA - Planets|work= World Book at NASA|publisher= NASA|access-date=4 October 2010}} of German descent whose main interest is the search for exoplanets.

He is credited, along with R. Paul Butler, for discovering Gliese 581 g, the first potentially habitable planet outside of the Solar System.{{cite web |url= http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2022489,00.html|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101002040809/http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2022489,00.html|url-status= dead|archive-date= October 2, 2010|title= Found: An Earthlike Planet, at Last|author= Michael D. Lemonick|author-link= Michael Lemonick|date=29 September 2010|publisher= Time|accessdate=5 October 2010}}{{cite web |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/30/science/space/30planet.html|title= New Planet May Be Able to Nurture Organisms|author= Dennis Overbye|author-link= Dennis Overbye|date=29 September 2010|work= The New York Times|accessdate=5 October 2010}}{{cite web |url= https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130221270|title= Could 'Goldilocks' Planet Be Just Right For Life?|agency= Associated Press|date=30 September 2010|publisher= National Public Radio|accessdate=5 October 2010}}{{Dead link|date=November 2010|bot=H3llBot}} However, Gliese 581 g was later found to be a false positive.{{Cite journal |last=Robertson |first=Paul |last2=Mahadevan |first2=Suvrath |last3=Endl |first3=Michael |last4=Roy |first4=Arpita |date=2014-07-25 |title=Stellar Activity Masquerading as Planets in the Habitable Zone of the M dwarf Gliese 581 |url=http://arxiv.org/abs/1407.1049 |journal=Science |volume=345 |issue=6195 |pages=440–444 |doi=10.1126/science.1253253 |issn=0036-8075|arxiv=1407.1049 }}

He is a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz,{{cite web|url= http://research.pbsci.ucsc.edu/astro/steven-s-vogt/|title= Steven S. Vogt - Professor, Astronomy & Astrophysics|publisher= University of California Santa Cruz|access-date= 5 October 2010|url-status= dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101003081005/http://research.pbsci.ucsc.edu/astro/steven-s-vogt|archive-date= 3 October 2010}} 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.{{cite web |url= http://www.ucolick.org/~vogt/#hires|title= HIRES: High Resolution Echelle Spectrograph|author= Dr. Steven S. Vogt|publisher= UCO/Lick Observatory|accessdate=5 October 2010}} HIRES is an instrument critical to observations and discoveries about the planets, stars, galaxies, and the universe.{{cite web |url= http://www.ucolick.org/~vogt/hires.html|title= The Keck I Telescope High Resolution Spectrometer|author= Dr. Steven S. Vogt|publisher= UCO/Lick Observatory|accessdate=October 5, 2010}}{{cite web|url= http://www.utexas.edu/ogs/awards/alumnus/awardpages/s_vogt.html|title= Outstanding Alumnus Award|publisher= University of Texas at Austin|access-date= 5 October 2010|url-status= dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090807031709/http://www.utexas.edu/ogs/awards/alumnus/awardpages/s_vogt.html|archive-date= 7 August 2009}} Vogt also built the Hamilton spectrometer at Lick Observatory (with which most of the first extrasolar planets were discovered).{{cite web |url= http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/aboutus_staff.shtml?From=sidebar|title= Staff & Advisory Boards|publisher= Science Buddies|accessdate=6 October 2010}} In 1987,{{cite web |url= http://www.as.utexas.edu/bov/newsletter/article.html?a=20100629-05|title= News from McDonald Observatory and the Department of Astronomy|date=29 June 2010|publisher= Astronomy Program · University of Texas at Austin|accessdate=5 October 2010}} earlier in his career, Vogt invented the technique of "Doppler imaging" for mapping the surface features of stars.{{cite journal |bibcode= 1983PASP...95..599P|title= High-order nonradial oscillations on rapidly rotating early-type stars|journal= Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific|volume= 95|issue= 571|pages= 599|last1= Penrod|first1= G. D.|last2= Vogt|first2= S. S.|year= 1983}}{{cite journal |bibcode= 1987ApJ...321..496V|title= Doppler images of rotating stars using maximum entropy image reconstruction|doi = 10.1086/165647 | volume=321|journal=The Astrophysical Journal|page=496|year= 1987|last1= Vogt|first1= Steven S.|last2= Penrod|first2= G. Donald|last3= Hatzes|first3= Artie P.|doi-access= free}}

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, in 1972, his Master of Science degree in Astronomy from UT Austin in 1976, and Ph.D in Astronomy from UT Austin in 1978.{{cite web |url= http://www.ucolick.org/~vogt/|title= Dr. Steven S. Vogt|author= Dr. Steven S. Vogt|publisher= UCO/Lick Observatory|accessdate=5 October 2010}}

He's been a member of the University of California Observatories (UCO) at Lick Observatory since 1978.