Along with collaborator Scott Sheppard from the Carnegie\nInstitution for Science, Trujillo was honored at an award ceremony on Sept. 16\nat the European Planetary Science Congress (EPSC) in Geneva, Switzerland.\nShepard and Trujillo presented the Farinella Prize Lecture entitled \u201cCompleting\nthe Inventory of the Solar System\u201d as part of the award session.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The annual prize, established in 2010 to honor the memory of\nItalian scientist Paolo Farinella, recognizes an outstanding researcher not\nolder than 47 years (Farinella\u2019s age when he died) who has achieved important\nresults in one of Farinella\u2019s fields of work. Each year the prize focuses on a\ndifferent research area. The prize is supported by the University of Pisa and\nby the Institute for Space Astrophysics and Planetology in Rome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis was definitely a surprise,\u201d Trujillo said. \u201cI had no idea\nthat we might be nominated for the prize, let alone be selected. I know that\nour research is well-known, but there are so many excellent scientists studying\nthe outer solar system that I was really astonished and humbled that the\ncommittee chose us to receive this prestigious award. And it is an honor to be\nsharing this award with Scott Sheppard of Carnegie, who has been instrumental\nto the success and longevity of our project.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Scott and I have been working for many years discovering the\noutermost objects in our solar system,\u201d Trujillo said. \u201cIt’s been a pleasure to\nbe part of many discoveries including many Trans-Neptunian Objects as well as\nNeptune Trojan asteroids and dwarf planets. More recently, we have been trying\nto find the outermost objects in the solar system. These extremely distant\nobjects still orbit the Sun, but have an unusual orbital alignment that has\nbeen the basis for the hypothesis that there might be a very distant\nundiscovered giant planet in our solar system, which is an exciting prospect.\nWhen we began our work together, I don’t think most people, including myself,\nrealized that there would be such a rich variety of very distant objects in the\nouter solar system.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trujillo and Sheppard are part of a team that has been searching\nfor Planet X\u2014believed to be on the edge of the solar system\u2014since 2014. In 2018,\nthey discovered Farout, an object at about 120 astronomical units (AU) from\nEarth\u2014the farthest observed object in the solar system. The announcement\nattracted attention by national media outlets including CNN<\/a>, NBC News<\/a>, Space.com<\/a> and Science<\/em><\/a>. Since then, the team found FarFarOut, another major\ndiscovery even farther from the sun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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