As part of his post graduate studies at Caltech, Oak Park and River Forest High School 1991 graduate Chad Trujilo has received recognition for his co-discovery of the largest space object found since Pluto.
After graduating from OPRF, Trujilo attended MIT, where he received a BA in physics. He then completed his doctorate focusing on astronomy at the University of Hawaii.
Trujilo said along with watching reruns of Cosmos on television, his education at OPRF sparked his interest in the sciences and astronomy.
“The science and math programs there were really good and got me excited about math,” he said. “There was a lot of hands on experience and there were definitely a lot of good teachers.”
The asteroid Trujilo discovered is named Quaor (pronounced Kwah-o-whar), after a Native American legend. Trujilo said he chose the title in order to add some diversity to the current names of space objects.
“There are so many asteroids named for Greek and Roman characters, we thought it would be fun to do something different,” he said. 
Quaor is located in the Kuiper belt, which is a ring of rocks and icy objects found near Pluto. Although it is not considered a planet, Quaor it is about 1250 kilometers in diameter, and is 10 times the size of the average Kuiper belt object. 
According to Trujilo, other than the Hubble telescope servicing mission, the discovery of the object has received more press coverage than any other space-related event in recent years. 
“I’m kind of surprised that so many people heard about it,” he said. “I’ve had lot of emails and 100,000 hits on my Web site in the last two weeks. But, it seems to be slowing down, so I can get back to work.”
Trujilo said he and his partner Mike Brown have been working to discover objects in the Kuiper belt for nine months and that they have detected approximately 20 so far. He said they plan to study the belt for two more years, and that it is possible they may discover an object larger than Pluto. He added that eventually, his work may help disprove the theory that Pluto is a planet. 
“It certainly used to be a planet and everybody agreed 20 years ago,” he said. “Now it seems like a tough case.”
Trujilo said he may eventually pursue a career as a professor, but that right now, he is enjoying his work at Caltech.
“I think important things is not this particular object, but that we’re in this new exciting discovery era. This is just the beginning,” he said. 
Trujilo said students who are interested in pursuing careers in astronomy should not only work on their math and lab skills, but learn to effectively express themselves.
“It is important to study math and science, but it is also important to learn to communicate with other people,” he said.  “You do that your whole life, no matter what field you’re in.”
“Don’t give up,” he added. “Sometimes people will tell you you’re not good at something, but if you give up, they’ve won.”

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