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 working in the Netherlands in a tenured position at Leiden University. They have one child together. 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 was named in her honor on 1 July 1996 (). She is a fellow of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. Selected publications NASA Astrophysics Data System publication listing, Over 200 publications are listing 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) References External links No Starry Eyed Astronomer. Vijaysree Venkatraman (October 2012) 1963 births 20th-century American astronomers 21st-century American women scientists 21st-century American astronomers Discoverers of asteroids Discoverers of trans-Neptunian objects Recipients of the Annie J. Cannon Award in Astronomy Academics of Vietnamese descent Harvard University faculty Hubble Fellows Academic staff of Leiden University Living people Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters People from Ho Chi Minh City Planetary scientists Women astronomers Vietnamese astronomers Vietnamese emigrants to the United States MIT Lincoln Laboratory people Kavli Prize laureates in Astrophysics Women planetary scientists 20th-century American women American