Chad Trujillo

Chadwick A. Trujillo (born November 22, 1973) is an American astronomer, discoverer of minor planets and the co-discoverer of Eris, the most massive dwarf planet known in the Solar System.

Trujillo works with computer software and has examined the orbits of the numerous trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs), which is the outer area of the Solar System that he specialized in. Trujillo, along with Michael Brown and David Rabinowitz, discovered Eris in 2003. As a result of the discovery of the satellite Dysnomia, Eris was the first TNO known to be more massive than Pluto.

Career

Trujillo attended Oak Park and River Forest High School in Oak Park, Illinois. He received his B.Sc. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1995, and was a member of the Xi chapter of Tau Epsilon Phi, and received his Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Hawaiʻi in 2000.

Between 2000 and 2003 Trujillo was a postdoctoral scholar at Caltech. In 2003, he started working as an astronomer at the Gemini Observatory in Hawaii.

In 2013 Trujillo became head of the Adaptive Optics/Telescope Department at the Gemini Observatory, and continued until 2016. As of 2016, Trujillo is assistant professor at the department of Astronomy and Planetary Science at Northern Arizona University.

He studies the Kuiper belt and the outer Solar System.

Discoveries

Minor planets discovered: 62

see Template:Section link

Trujillo is credited by the Minor Planet Center with the discovery and co-discovery of 54 numbered minor planets between 1996 and 2013, including many trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) from the Kuiper belt (see table). The last major TNO, Eris, was at first considered by him, his team, NASA, and many others to be the tenth planet, but the International Astronomical Union assigned it to the new classificatory category of dwarf planet.

The possible dwarf planets Trujillo discovered are:

• Quaoar, co-discovered with Brown
• Sedna, co-discovered with Brown and Rabinowitz, possibly the first known inner Oort cloud object
• Orcus, co-discovered with Brown and Rabinowitz
• Eris, co-discovered with Brown and Rabinowitz – the only known TNO more massive than Pluto
• Template:Dp, discovery also claimed by the Sierra Nevada Observatory, Spain (also see José Luis Ortiz Moreno).
• Template:Dp, co-discovered with Brown and Rabinowitz in 2005, one of the first 5 official dwarf planets.

List of discovered minor planets

The Minor Planet Center credits Chad Trujillo with the discovery and co-discovery of 57 minor planets during 1996–2013. His numerous co-discoverers were: ^A D. C. Jewitt, ^B J. X. Luu, ^C J. Chen, ^D K. Berney, ^E D. J. Tholen, ^F M. E. Brown, ^G W. Evans, ^H S. S. Sheppard, ^J D. L. Rabinowitz, ^K A. Udalski, ^L M. Kubiak, ^M R. Poleski and ^N Glenn Smith.

Template:Mpl	October 9, 1996	Template:LoMP[A][B][C]
Template:Mpl	October 11, 1996	Template:LoMP[B][A]
Template:Mp	February 3, 1997	Template:LoMP[C][A]
Template:Mpl	October 12, 1996	Template:LoMP[A][B]
Template:Mpl	October 8, 1996	Template:LoMP[A][B][C]
Template:Mpl	August 28, 1997	Template:LoMP[B][A][D]
Template:Mpl	April 28, 1998	Template:LoMP[B][E][A]
Template:Mpl	February 20, 1999	Template:LoMP[B]
Template:Mpl	February 6, 1997	Template:LoMP[A][B][C]
50000 Quaoar	June 4, 2002	Template:LoMP[F]

Template:Mp	February 11, 1999	Template:LoMP[B][A]
Template:Mp	March 3, 2000	Template:LoMP[B][G]
65489 Ceto	March 22, 2003	Template:LoMP[F]
66652 Borasisi	September 8, 1999	Template:LoMP[B][A]
79360 Sila-Nunam	February 3, 1997	Template:LoMP[B][A][C]
Template:Mp	February 11, 1999	Template:LoMP[B][A]
Template:Mp	February 15, 1999	Template:LoMP[A][B][H]
Template:Mpl	February 20, 1999	Template:LoMP[B][A]
Template:Mpl	November 3, 2002	Template:LoMP[F]
90377 Sedna	November 14, 2003	Template:LoMP[F][J]

90482 Orcus	February 17, 2004	Template:LoMP[F][J]
Template:Mp	September 8, 1999	Template:LoMP[B][A]
Template:Mpl	October 8, 1996	Template:LoMP[C][A][B]
Template:Mpl	May 17, 2002	Template:LoMP[F]
Template:Mpl	July 26, 2003	Template:LoMP[F][J]
Template:Mpl	October 3, 2004	Template:LoMP[F][J]
Template:Mpl	December 18, 2001	Template:LoMP[F]
Template:Mpl	December 20, 2001	Template:LoMP[F][N]
Template:Mp	February 10, 1999	Template:LoMP[B][A]
Template:Mp	September 7, 1999	Template:LoMP[A][B]

136199 Eris	October 21, 2003	Template:LoMP[F][J]
136472 Makemake	March 31, 2005	Template:LoMP[F][J]
Template:Mp	September 7, 1999	Template:LoMP[B][A]
Template:Mp	September 8, 1999	Template:LoMP[A][B]
Template:Mp	September 8, 1999	Template:LoMP[A][B]
Template:Mp	April 2, 2000	Template:LoMP[A][H]
Template:Mpl	August 7, 2004	Template:LoMP[F][J]
Template:Mp	February 10, 1999	Template:LoMP[A][B]
Template:Mp	February 11, 1999	Template:LoMP[B][A]
Template:Mp	February 12, 1999	Template:LoMP[B][A]

Template:Mpl	September 6, 1999	Template:LoMP[B][A]
208996 Achlys	January 13, 2003	Template:LoMP[F]
Template:Mp	May 19, 2002	Template:LoMP[F]
Template:Mp	May 17, 2002	Template:LoMP[F]
307261 Máni	June 18, 2002	Template:LoMP[F]
341520 Mors–Somnus	October 14, 2007	Template:LoMP[H]
Template:Mp	September 7, 1999	Template:LoMP[A][B]
385571 Otrera	October 16, 2004	Template:LoMP[H]
385695 Clete	October 8, 2005	Template:LoMP[H]
Template:Mp	September 7, 1999	Template:LoMP[B][A]

Template:Mpl	February 10, 1999	Template:LoMP[B][A]
471143 Dziewanna	March 13, 2010	Template:LoMP[K][L]
Template:Mp	April 21, 2010	Template:LoMP[H][M][K]
Template:Mp	March 17, 2013	Template:LoMP[H]
Template:Mp	April 28, 1998	Template:LoMP[E][A][B]
Template:Mp	March 31, 2000	Template:LoMP[H][A]
Template:Mp	August 26, 2002	Template:LoMP[F]
Template:Mp	February 6, 1997	Template:LoMP[C][A][B]
Template:Mp	September 6, 1999	Template:LoMP[A][B]
Template:Mp	March 17, 2013	Template:LoMP[H]

Template:Mp	March 17, 2013	Template:LoMP[H]
541132 Leleākūhonua	October 13, 2015	Template:LoMP[E][H]

Satellites and uncredited discoveries

Object	Discovery date	Type	Credit went to..
Haumea	December 28, 2004	DP
55565 Aya	January 10, 2002	TNO	The Palomar Observatory team with Michael Brown
Template:Mpl	November 5, 2012	TNO	no official discoverers for unnumbered objects; candidate: S. S. Sheppard
(136108) Haumea I Hiʻiaka	January 26, 2005	Satellite	Michael Brown and the adaptive-optics team, D. L. Rabinowitz
(136108) Haumea II Namaka	July 30, 2005	Satellite	Michael Brown and the adaptive-optics team
(136199) Eris I Dysnomia	September 10, 2005	Satellite	Michael Brown and the adaptive-optics team: M. A. van Dam, A. H. Bouchez, D. Le Mignant, R. D. Campbell, J. C. Y. Chin, A. Conrad, S. K. Hartman, E. M. Johansson, R. E. Lafon, D. L. Rabinowitz, P. J. Stomski Jr., D. M. Summers, and P. L. Wizinowich

Honors and awards

The main-belt asteroid 12101 Trujillo is named for him.

In 2006 he was named one of the Science Spectrum Magazine Trailblazer, top minority in science.