May 5, 1995 Contact: Robert Irion (408/459-2495)

ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF THE PACIFIC RECOGNIZES SANTA CRUZ ASTRONOMER

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SANTA CRUZ, CA--Steven Vogt, a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and an astronomer at UCO/Lick Observatory, has received the Maria and Eric Muhlmann Award for 1995 from the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.

The award honors major results in astronomy made possible by innovative advances in instrumentation. In Vogt's case, the society recognized his work on the high-resolution echelle spectrograph (HIRES), a primary observing tool at the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii. An eight-ton instrument the size of a living room, HIRES is the most complex such instrument in the world and has led to dramatic new findings in astronomy within the last year.

HIRES contains huge optical gratings, lenses, and mirrors which break up the light from distant stars and galaxies into its component colors, or spectrum, then focus it precisely on a sensitive detector. The spectrograph works in conjunction with the light-gathering power of the 400-inch Keck Telescope, the world's largest optical telescope, to open new vistas upon the universe for scientists. For instance, Vogt and other astronomers have used HIRES to find evidence of "dark matter" in a satellite galaxy of our Milky Way, take the temperature of the early universe, and measure the types of atoms in extremely distant clouds of gas.

"This is truly a magnificent advance in astronomical instrumentation," concluded the society's awards committee. Vogt will receive a cash prize of $500 plus travel expenses to a June meeting of the society at the University of Maryland, where he will be honored.

Vogt joined the UCSC faculty in 1978. He led the design team for HIRES and supervised its construction at the UCO/Lick Observatory instrument shops at UCSC. The device was completed in April 1993 and began its first routine scientific observations in Hawaii in November 1993.

The Astronomical Society of the Pacific is the oldest national astronomy group and the main U.S. organization dedicated to astronomy education. It was established in 1889 by the first director of Lick Observatory and an Oakland schoolteacher. Today, its nearly 7,000 members--hailing from all 50 states and about 70 other countries--include astronomers, teachers, and people from all walks of life who are interested in astronomy.

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