Scott Sheppard, moon hunter

The astronomer behind Autonoe and dozens of other small moons.

Published 2026-10-23

Autonoe is one of many moons credited to a team led by Scott S. Sheppard.^[1]

Background

Sheppard, born in 1977, is an American astronomer at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, DC. He earned a physics degree from Oberlin College in 1998.^[5]

Hawaiʻi years

As a graduate student at the University of Hawaiʻi’s Institute for Astronomy he was credited with discovering many small moons of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.^[5]

Beyond moons

He led the discovery of 2012 VP113, one of the most distant known Solar System objects, and found the first known trailing Neptune trojan, 2008 LC18.^[5]

An asteroid of his own

Main-belt asteroid 17898 Scottsheppard is named in his honour.^[5]

Numbered citations link to the sources list on the Autonoe overview page.