Scott S. Sheppard

Scott Sander Sheppard (born 1977) is an American astronomer and a discoverer of numerous moons, comets and minor planets in the outer Solar System.

He is an astronomer in the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, DC. He attended Oberlin College as an undergraduate, and received his bachelor in physics with honors in 1998. Starting as a graduate student at the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, he was credited with the discovery of many small moons of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. He has also discovered the first known trailing Neptune trojan, , the first named leading Neptune trojan, 385571 Otrera, and the first high inclination Neptune trojan, . These discoveries showed that the Neptune trojan objects are mostly on highly inclined orbits and thus likely captured small bodies from elsewhere in the Solar System.

The main-belt asteroid 17898 Scottsheppard, discovered by LONEOS at Anderson Mesa Station in 1999, was named in his honor.

Discoveries

+ Minor planets discovered: 23 15 February 1999 9 December 2001 9 December 2001 11 December 2001 9 December 2001 2 April 2000 9 December 2001 341520 Mors–Somnus 14 October 2007 385571 Otrera 16 October 2004 385695 Clete 8 October 2005 10 December 2001 9 December 2001 471143 Dziewanna 13 March 2010 21 April 2010 17 March 2013 31 March 2000 16 March 2013 16 March 2013 24 March 2014 10 December 2001 10 December 2001 532037 Chiminigagua 17 March 2013 17 March 2013 541132 Leleākūhonua 13 October 2015 13 August 2021 13 January 2022 with J. X. Luu with D. C. Jewitt with Chadwick Trujillo with J. T. Kleyna with A. Udalski with M. Kubiak with R. Poleski with D. J. Tholen

Sheppard was the lead discoverer of the object with the most distant orbit known in the Solar System, (nicknamed Biden). In 2014, the similarity of the orbit of to other extreme Kuiper belt object orbits led Sheppard and Trujillo to propose that an unknown Super-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 (see Planet X or Planet Nine). The extreme trans-Neptunian objects and , 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, with 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 object 541132 Leleākūhonua (nicknamed "The Goblin") by Sheppard et al., being only the third known after 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.

Most notable discoveries Sheppard has been involved in the discovery of many small Solar System bodies such as trans-Neptunian objects, centaurs, comets and near-Earth objects. Three comets are named after him which are Sheppard-Trujillo (C/2014 F3), Sheppard-Tholen (C/2015 T5) and comet Trujillo-Sheppard (P/2018 V5). The possible dwarf planets discovered by Sheppard are 471143 Dziewanna, , , 532037 Chiminigagua, and . In 2018, Sheppard was the lead discoverer of the most distant observed object in the Solar System and first object observed beyond 100 AU, possible dwarf planet (nicknamed Farout), which is around 120 AU from the Sun. He discovered a minor-planet moon around likely dwarf planet Chiminigagua. He is also a co-discoverer of a minor-planet moon orbiting the binary trans-Neptunian object 341520 Mors–Somnus. Among the numerous irregular moons of the major planets in whose discovery he has been involved are:

Jupiter Discovered moons of Jupiter (full list):

Themisto (2000), first seen but lost in 1975 by Charles Kowal Harpalyke (2000) Praxidike (2000) Chaldene (2000) Isonoe (2000) Erinome (2000) Taygete (2000) Kalyke (2000) Megaclite (2000) Iocaste (2000) Dia (2000) Euporie (2001) Orthosie (2001) Euanthe (2001) Thyone (2001) Hermippe (2001) Pasithee (2001) Aitne (2001) Eurydome (2001) Autonoe (2001) Sponde (2001) Kale (2001) Arche (2002) Eukelade (2003) Helike (2003) Aoede (2003) Hegemone (2003) Kallichore (2003) Cyllene (2003) Mneme (2003) Thelxinoe (2003) Carpo (2003) Kore (2003) Herse (2003) Jupiter LXXIII (2003) Eupheme (2003) S/2003 J 4 (2003) Eirene (2003) S/2003 J 9 (2003) S/2003 J 10 (2003) S/2003 J 12 (2003) Philophrosyne (2003) S/2003 J 16 (2003) Jupiter LV (2003) Jupiter LXI (2003) S/2003 J 23 (2003) S/2003 J 24 (2003) S/2010 J 3 (2010) S/2010 J 4 (2010) S/2010 J 6 (2010) Jupiter LXXII (2011) Jupiter LVI (2011) S/2011 J 3 (2011) S/2011 J 4 (2011) S/2011 J 5 (2011) S/2011 J 6 (2011) Jupiter LIV (2016) Valetudo (2016) S/2016 J 3 (2016) S/2016 J 4 (2016) Jupiter LIX (2017) Jupiter LXIII (2017) Jupiter LXIV (2017) Pandia (2017) Jupiter LXVI (2017) Jupiter LXVII (2017) Jupiter LXVIII (2017) Jupiter LXIX (2017) Jupiter LXX (2017) S/2017 J 10 (2017) S/2017 J 11 (2017) S/2017 J 12 (2017) S/2017 J 13 (2017) S/2017 J 14 (2017) S/2017 J 15 (2017) S/2017 J 16 (2017) S/2017 J 17 (2017) S/2017 J 18 (2017) Ersa (2018) S/2018 J 2 (2018) S/2018 J 3 (2018) S/2018 J 4 (2018) S/2018 J 5 (2018) S/2021 J 1 (2021) S/2021 J 2 (2021) S/2021 J 3 (2021) S/2021 J 4 (2021) S/2021 J 5 (2021) S/2021 J 6 (2021) S/2021 J 7 (2021) S/2021 J 8 (2021) S/2022 J 1 (2022) S/2022 J 2 (2022) S/2022 J 3 (2022) S/2024 J 1 (2024)

Saturn Discovered moons of Saturn (full list):

Narvi (2003) Fornjot (2004) Farbauti (2004) Aegir (2004) Bebhionn (2004) Hati (2004) Bergelmir (2004) Fenrir (2004) Bestla (2004) Saturn LXVII (2004) S/2004 S 12 (2004) S/2004 S 13 (2004) S/2004 S 17 (2004) Hyrrokkin (2004) Gridr (2004) S/2004 S 21 (2004) Angrboda (2004) Skrymir (2004) S/2004 S 24 (2004) Gerd (2004) Saturn LVIII (2004) Eggther (2004) S/2004 S 28 (2004) Saturn LX (2004) Beli (2004) S/2004 S 31 (2004) Gunnlod (2004) Thiazzi (2004) Saturn LXIV (2004) Alvaldi (2004) S/2004 S 36 (2004) S/2004 S 37 (2004) Geirrod (2004) S/2004 S 39 (2004) S/2004 S 40 (2004) S/2004 S 41 (2004) S/2004 S 42 (2004) S/2004 S 43 (2004) S/2004 S 44 (2004) S/2004 S 45 (2004) S/2004 S 46 (2004) S/2004 S 47 (2004) S/2004 S 48 (2004) S/2004 S 49 (2004) S/2004 S 50 (2004) S/2004 S 51 (2004) S/2004 S 52 (2004) S/2004 S 53 (2004) S/2004 S 54 (2004) S/2004 S 55 (2004) S/2004 S 56 (2004) S/2004 S 57 (2004) S/2004 S 58 (2004) S/2004 S 59 (2004) S/2004 S 60 (2004) S/2004 S 61 (2004) S/2005 S 4 (2005) S/2005 S 5 (2005) S/2005 S 6 (2005) S/2005 S 7 (2005) Kari (2006) Loge (2006) Surtur (2006) Skoll (2006) Greip (2006) Jarnsaxa (2006) S/2006 S 1 (2006) S/2006 S 3 (2006) S/2006 S 9 (2006) S/2006 S 10 (2006) S/2006 S 11 (2006) S/2006 S 12 (2006) S/2006 S 13 (2006) S/2006 S 14 (2006) S/2006 S 15 (2006) S/2006 S 16 (2006) S/2006 S 17 (2006) S/2006 S 18 (2006) S/2006 S 19 (2006) S/2006 S 20 (2006) S/2006 S 21 (2006) S/2006 S 22 (2006) S/2006 S 23 (2006) S/2006 S 24 (2006) S/2006 S 25 (2006) S/2006 S 26 (2006) S/2006 S 27 (2006) S/2006 S 28 (2006) S/2006 S 29 (2006) Tarqeq (2007) S/2007 S 2 (2007) S/2007 S 3 (2007) S/2007 S 5 (2007) S/2007 S 6 (2007) S/2007 S 7 (2007) S/2007 S 8 (2007) S/2007 S 9 (2007) S/2007 S 10 (2007) S/2007 S 11 (2007) S/2019 S 3 (2019) S/2019 S 9 (2019) S/2019 S 11 (2019) S/2019 S 17 (2019) S/2019 S 18 (2019) S/2019 S 21 (2019) S/2019 S 24 (2019) S/2019 S 25 (2019) S/2019 S 27 (2019) S/2019 S 29 (2019) S/2019 S 31 (2019) S/2019 S 33 (2019) S/2019 S 34 (2019) S/2019 S 40 (2019) S/2019 S 42 (2019) S/2019 S 43 (2019) S/2020 S 1 (2020) S/2020 S 8 (2020) S/2020 S 26 (2020) S/2020 S 27 (2020)

Uranus Discovered moons of Uranus (full list): Margaret (2003) Ferdinand (2003), first seen but lost in 2001 by Holman et al. S/2023 U 1 (2023)

Neptune Discovered moons of Neptune (full list): Psamathe (2003) S/2002 N 5 (2021), first seen but lost in 2002 by Holman et al. S/2021 N 1 (2021)

Scott S. Sheppard

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