Scott S. Sheppard | |
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| Website | sites |
Scott Sander Sheppard (born 1977) is an Americanastronomer and a discoverer of numerousmoons,comets andminor planets in theouter Solar System.[1][2][3]
He is an astronomer in the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism at theCarnegie Institution for Science in Washington, DC. He attendedOberlin College as an undergraduate, and received his bachelor in physics with honors in 1998.[4][better source needed] Starting as a graduate student at theInstitute for Astronomy at theUniversity of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, he was credited with the discovery of manysmall moons ofJupiter,Saturn,Uranus, andNeptune. He has also discovered the first known trailingNeptune trojan,2008 LC18, the first named leading Neptune trojan,385571 Otrera, and the first high inclination Neptune trojan,2005 TN53. These discoveries showed that the Neptune trojan objects are mostly on highly inclined orbits and thus likely captured small bodies from elsewhere in theSolar System.
Themain-belt asteroid17898 Scottsheppard, discovered byLONEOS atAnderson Mesa Station in 1999, was named in his honor.[1]
| (79978) 1999 CC158 | 15 February 1999 | list[A][B][C] |
| (131695) 2001 XS254 | 9 December 2001 | list[B][D] |
| (131696) 2001 XT254 | 9 December 2001 | list[B][D] |
| (131697) 2001 XH255 | 11 December 2001 | list[B][D] |
| (148975) 2001 XA255 | 9 December 2001 | list[B][D] |
| (168700) 2000 GE147 | 2 April 2000 | list[B][C] |
| (200840) 2001 XN254 | 9 December 2001 | list |
| 341520 Mors–Somnus | 14 October 2007 | list[C] |
| 385571 Otrera | 16 October 2004 | list[C] |
| 385695 Clete | 8 October 2005 | list[C] |
| (469420) 2001 XP254 | 10 December 2001 | list[B][D] |
| (469421) 2001 XD255 | 9 December 2001 | list[B][D] |
| 471143 Dziewanna | 13 March 2010 | list[C][E][F] |
| (471165) 2010 HE79 | 21 April 2010 | list[C][E][G] |
| (471921) 2013 FC28 | 17 March 2013 | list[C] |
| (508792) 2000 FX53 | 31 March 2000 | list[B][C] |
| (523671) 2013 FZ27 | 16 March 2013 | list |
| (523672) 2013 FJ28 | 16 March 2013 | list |
| (523693) 2014 FT71 | 24 March 2014 | list |
| (524365) 2001 XQ254 | 10 December 2001 | list[B][D] |
| (524366) 2001 XR254 | 10 December 2001 | list[B][D] |
| 532037 Chiminigagua | 17 March 2013 | list[C] |
| (532038) 2013 FB28 | 17 March 2013 | list[C] |
| 541132 Leleākūhonua | 13 October 2015 | list[C][H] |
| 2021 PH27 | 13 August 2021 | MPC |
| 2022 AP7 | 13 January 2022 | MPC[6] |
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Sheppard was the lead discoverer of the object with the most distant orbit known in the Solar System,2012 VP113 (nicknamed Biden). In 2014, the similarity of the orbit of2012 VP113 to other extreme Kuiper belt object orbits led Sheppard andTrujillo to propose that an unknownSuper-Earth mass planet (2–15 Earth masses) in the outermost Solar System beyond 200 AU and up to 1500 AU is shepherding these smaller bodies into similar orbits (seePlanet X orPlanet Nine). The extreme trans-Neptunian objects2013 FT28 and2014 SR349, announced in 2016 and co-discovered by Sheppard, further show a likely unknown massive planet exists beyond a few hundred AU in the Solar System, with2013 FT28 being the first known high semi-major axis and high perihelion object anti-aligned with the other known extreme objects. In 2018, the announcement of the high perihelion inner Oort cloud object541132 Leleākūhonua (nicknamed "The Goblin") by Sheppard et al., being only the third known after2012 VP113 and Sedna, further demonstrated that a super-Earth planet in the distant Solar System likely exists as Leleākūhonua has many orbital similarities as the two other known inner Oort cloud objects.
Sheppard has been involved in the discovery of manysmall Solar System bodies such astrans-Neptunian objects,centaurs,comets andnear-Earth objects.
Discoveredmoons of Jupiter (full list):[3]
Discoveredmoons of Saturn (full list):[3]
Discoveredmoons of Uranus (full list):[3]
Discoveredmoons of Neptune (full list):[3]
| Authority control databases: Academics |
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