Jane Luu

Dr. Jane X. Luu (Vietnamese: Lưu Lệ Hằng; born July 1963) is a Vietnamese American astronomer.

Contents

1Early life
2Work as a graduate student and co-discovery of the Kuiper Belt
3Professional life
4Personal life
5Honors, awards and accolades
6Some publishing
7References
8External links

Early life
Luu was born in July 1963 in South Vietnam to a father who worked as a translator for the U.S. Army. Her father taught her French as a child, beginning her lifelong love of languages.

Luu immigrated to the United States as a refugee in 1975, when the South Vietnamese government fell. She and her family settled in Kentucky, where she had relatives. A visit to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory inspired her to study astronomy. She attended Stanford University, receiving her bachelor’s degree in 1984.

Work as a graduate student and co-discovery of the Kuiper Belt

[hide]Asteroids discovered: 35

10370 Hylonome
February 27, 1995

(15760) 1992 QB1
August 20, 1992

(15809) 1994 JS
May 11, 1994

(15836) 1995 DA2
February 24, 1995

(15874) 1996 TL66
October 9, 1996

(15875) 1996 TP66
October 11, 1996

(19308) 1996 TO66
October 12, 1996

(20161) 1996 TR66
October 8, 1996

(24952) 1997 QJ4
August 28, 1997

(24978) 1998 HJ151
April 28, 1998

(26375) 1999 DE9
February 20, 1999

(33001) 1997 CU29
February 6, 1997

(58534) 1997 CQ29
February 4, 1997

(59358) 1999 CL158
February 11, 1999

(60608) 2000 EE173
March 3, 2000

66652 Borasisi
September 8, 1999

79360 Sila–Nunam
February 3, 1997

(79969) 1999 CP133
February 11, 1999

(79978) 1999 CC158
February 15, 1999

(79983) 1999 DF9
February 20, 1999

(91554) 1999 RZ215
September 8, 1999

(118228) 1996 TQ66
October 8, 1996

(129746) 1999 CE119
February 10, 1999

(134568) 1999 RH215
September 7, 1999

(137294) 1999 RE215
September 7, 1999

(137295) 1999 RB216
September 8, 1999

(148112) 1999 RA216
September 8, 1999

(181708) 1993 FW
March 28, 1993

(181867) 1999 CV118
February 10, 1999

(181868) 1999 CG119
February 11, 1999

(181871) 1999 CO153
February 12, 1999

(181902) 1999 RD215
September 6, 1999

(385185) 1993 RO
September 14, 1993

(385201) 1999 RN215
September 7, 1999

(415720) 1999 RU215
September 7, 1999

1 with D. C. Jewitt
2 with J. Chen
3 with C. A. Trujillo
4 with K. Berney
5 with D. J. Tholen
6 with W. Evans
7 with S. S. Sheppard

As a graduate student at the University of California at Berkeley and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she worked with David C. Jewitt to discover the Kuiper Belt. In 1992, after five years of observation, they found the first known Kuiper Belt object other than Pluto and its largest moon Charon, using the University of Hawaii’s 2.2 meter telescope on Mauna Kea. This object is (15760) 1992 QB1, which she and Jewitt nicknamed “Smiley”. The American Astronomical Society awarded Luu the Annie J. Cannon Award in Astronomy in 1991. In 1992, Luu received a Hubble Fellowship from the Space Telescope Science Institute and chose the University of California, Berkeley as a host institution. The asteroid 5430 Luu is named in her honor. She received her PhD in 1992 at MIT.
Professional life
After receiving her doctorate, Luu worked as a professor at Harvard University, since 1994. Luu also served as a professor at Leiden University in the Netherlands. Following her time in Europe, Luu returned to the United States and works on instrumentation as a Senior Scientist at Lincoln Laboratory at MIT.

In December 2004, Luu and Jewitt reported the discovery of crystalline water ice on Quaoar, which was at the time the largest known Kuiper Belt object. They also found indications of ammonia hydrate. Their report theorized that the ice likely formed underground, becoming exposed after a collision with another Kuiper Belt object sometime in the last few million years.

In 2012, she won (along with David C. Jewitt of the University of California at Los Angeles) the Shaw Prize “for their discovery and characterization of trans-Neptunian bodies, an archeological treasure dating back to the formation of the solar system and the long-sought source of short period comets” and the Kavli Prize (shared with Jewitt and Michael E. Brown) “for discovering and characterizing the Kuiper Belt and its largest members, work that led to a major advance in the understanding of the history of our planetary system.”.
Personal life
Luu enjoys traveling, and has worked for Save the Children in Nepal. She enjoys a variety of outdoor activities and plays the cello. She met her husband, Ronnie Hoogerwerf, who is also an astronomer, while in Leiden.
Honors, awards and accolades

1991 Annie J. Cannon Award in Astronomy
2012 Shaw Prize in Astronomy
2012 Kavli Prize in Astrophysics
The asteroid 5430 Luu is named in her honor.
She is a fellow of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.

Some publishing

NASA Astrophysics Data System publication listing, Over 200 publications are listing
Luu, Jane; D.C. Jewitt & C. Trujillo (2000). “Water ice in 2060 Chiron and its implications for Centaurs and Kuiper Belt objects”. Astrophysical Journal 531 (2): L151–L154. arXiv:astro-ph/0002094.Bibcode:2000ApJ…531L.151L. doi:10.1086/312536. PMID 10688775.

Luu, Jane; D.C. Jewitt (1998). “Deep Imaging of the Kuiper Belt with the Keck 10-Meter Telescope”. Astrophysical Journal 502: L91–L94. Bibcode:1998ApJ…502L..91L. doi:10.1086/311490.

Luu, Jane; B. Marsden; D.C. Jewitt; C. Trujillo; C. Hegenrother; J. Chen & W. Offutt (1997). “A New Dynamical Class of Object in the Outer Solar System”. Nature 387 (6633): 573. Bibcode:1997Natur.387..573L.doi:10.1038/42413.

Luu, Jane; D.C. Jewitt (1996). “Color Diversity among the Centaurs and Kuiper Belt Objects”. Astronomical Journal 112: 2310–2318. Bibcode:1996AJ….112.2310L. doi:10.1086/118184.

Luu, Jane; D.C. Jewitt (1992). “High Resolution Surface Brightness Profiles of Near-Earth Asteroids”. Icarus 97 (2): 276–287. Bibcode:1992Icar…97..276L. doi:10.1016/0019-1035(92)90134-S.

Luu, Jane (1991). “CCD Photometry and Spectroscopy of Outer Jovian Satellites”. Astronomical Journal 102: 1213–1225. Bibcode:1991AJ….102.1213L. doi:10.1086/115949.

Crystalline Ice on Kuiper Belt Object (50000) Quaoar (article co-written with David Jewitt, published in the December 9, 2004 issue of Nature)
The Shape Distribution of Kuiper Belt Objects (paper co-written with Pedro Lacerda, June 2003)
Comet Impact on McMaster (presentation summary, November 2001)
Accretion in the Early Kuiper Belt I. Coagulation and Velocity Evolution (paper co-written with Scott J. Kenyon, published in May 1998 Astronomical Journal)
Optical and Infrared Reflectance Spectrum of Kuiper Belt Object 1996 TL66 (paper co-written with D.C. Jewitt, January 1998)