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Steven Michael Gottlieb is a prolific amateur astronomer, researcher, writer and lecturer.

Biography

Gottlieb grew up in the Los Angeles area, later moving to Northern California. In 1973 he earned a master's degree in Mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley. Settling in the town of Albany, he taught high school math there for 37 years.

Amateur Astronomy

Gottlieb began systematically observing Messier objects in 1977, using a 6-inch reflecting telescope. He employed many different scopes over the years, observing from dark sky sites near the San Francisco Bay Area, the Sierra Nevada foothills and California star party events. By 2017, he had logged all the objects of the NGC Catalogue, completing the list after several visits to the southern hemisphere. His resulting compendium of observing reports has become a valuable resource for amateur astronomers.

Gottlieb describes himself as a "hardcore visual observer", having never developed an interest in astrophotography. For him, "it's always been about the aesthetics at the eyepiece in a large scope". His current main telescope is a 24-inch Starmaster with computerized GoTo system.

NGC/IC Project

As Gottlieb's interests developed, he researched at the nearby UC Berkeley astronomy library, comparing his observations with those of professionals and with the Palomar Observatory Sky Survey. While so doing he discovered numerous errors and conflicting data, and began corresponding with other astronomers, including Dr. Harold Corwin of the University of Texas.

Gottlieb thus became one of the principal investigators of the NGC/IC Project, a collaboration among professional and amateur astronomers to identify and image objects, compile historical observations and correct mistakes in the NGC and IC catalogues.

While helping to put the catalogues in order, he also worked with various telescope makers to correct databases for computerized DSCs (digital setting circles) and GoTo systems. Later he gathered the list of objects and wrote descriptions for the "DeepMap 600", a popular folding star chart.

Astronomy Writer, Public Lecturer

In the 1980s Gottlieb began writing articles for astronomy magazines, about observing galaxy groups, various types of nebulae, supernova remnants and other topics. His "Going Deep" column is a regular feature of Sky and Telescope magazine, for which he is a Contributing Editor.

Gottlieb promotes visual observing through public lectures for astronomy and science groups in Northern California.

References

External links

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