Francesco Manca

Francesco Manca (born November 1966, in Milan, Italy) is an Italian amateur astronomer and discoverer of minor planets at the Sormano Astronomical Observatory in northern Italy.[2]

Minor planets discovered: 26 [1]
see § List of discovered minor planets

Manca also performs follow-up astrometry of near-Earth objects (NEOs). He acquired research and observational experience on the NEOs at professional observatories in Arizona, United States at Catalina Sky Survey (IAU Obs code 703 and G96) Non-observational work focuses on computations of orbit and close approaches of asteroids with the Earth (linked at Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) - Jet Propulsion Laboratory) and computation of orbit identifications of asteroids (Near Earth Asteroids, Mars-crossing asteroids , Hungaria group, Trans-Neptunian object) and comets.

He wrote many articles on specialistic magazines. Member of SIMCA (Italian: Società Italiana Meccanica Celeste e Astrodinamica) and associated (INAF) National Institute for Astrophysics. His professional activity concerns the application of measuring systems as encoders for Right Ascension and Declination (azimuth and elevation), installed on telescopes and Radio telescopes such as the VLT, LBT, E-ELT (European-Extremely Large Telescope), ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter Array), DAG (Turkish for Eastern Anatolia Observatory), ASTRI (Astrophysics with mirrors at Italian Replicant Technology) and NEOSTEL (FlyEye telescope) for ESA or on space instruments as Solar Monitoring Observatory.

The Koronian asteroid 15460 Manca, discovered by Andrea Boattini and Luciano Tesi at San Marcello Pistoiese Observatory in 1998, is named in his honour.[2]

List of discovered minor planets
9111 Matarazzo28 January 1997list [A]
9115 Battisti27 February 1997list [A]
(9796) 1996 HW19 April 1996list [B]
10387 Bepicolombo18 October 1996list [A]
10605 Guidoni3 November 1996list [C]
10606 Crocco3 November 1996list [C]
11652 Johnbrownlee7 February 1997list [A]
12405 Nespoli15 September 1995list [C]
18542 Broglio29 December 1996list [D]
18556 Battiato7 February 1997list [A]
19318 Somanah2 December 1996list [E]
21289 Giacomel3 November 1996list [C]
26197 Bormio31 March 1997list [A]
27855 Giorgilli4 January 1995list [D]
32944 Gussalli19 November 1995list [A]
35334 Yarkovsky31 March 1997list [A]
37022 Robertovittori22 October 2000list [F]
39734 Marchiori14 December 1996list [B]
43956 Elidoro7 February 1997list [A]
43957 Invernizzi7 February 1997list [A]
48643 Allen-Beach20 October 1995list [A]
59087 Maccacaro15 November 1998list [A]
69961 Millosevich15 November 1998list [A]
(79847) 1998 XY27 December 1998list [D]
(96583) 1998 VG3415 November 1998list [A]
(100641) 1997 VO43 November 1997list [C]
Co-discovery made with:
A P. Sicoli
B P. Chiavenna
C V. Giuliani
D A. Testa
E M. Cavagna
F G. Ventre

See also

Publications
  • "Asteroid and Planet Close Encounters", Minor Planet Bulletin, ( 1999 F. Manca, P. Sicoli )
  • "Monitoring Hazardous Objects", Proceedings of the Third Italian Meeting of Planetary Science, ( 2000 F. Manca, P. Sicoli )
  • "Planetary Close Encounters", Proceedings of the Fourth Italian Meeting of Planetary Science, ( 2002 F. Manca, P. Sicoli )
  • "Minor planet recovery: analysis and verification of data obtained by OrbFit and Edipo software", Proceedings of the Fifth Italian Meeting of Planetary Science, ( 2003 F. Manca, A. Testa, M. Carpino)
  • "Identification of asteroids and comets: methods and results", Proceedings of the X National Conference on Planetary Science. (2011 F. Manca, P. Sicoli, and A. Testa)
  • "Identification of asteroids and comets: update on methods and results". Proceedings of the XI National Conference on Planetary Science. (2013 F. Manca, A. Testa)
  • "Close encounters among asteroids, comets, Earth-Moon system and inner planets: the cases of (99942) Apophis and Comet C/2013 A1 ". Proceedings of the XII Italian national workshop of planetary sciences. (2015 F. Manca, P. Sicoli, A. Testa)
  • "(WMT) Wide-field Mufara Telescope", Presentation at XIV Italian Meeting of Planetary Science, ( 2018 F. Manca, M. Di Martino )
  • Publication excerpt from ADS (The SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System)

MPECs, CBETs and IAUCs

References
  1. "Minor Planet Discoverers (by number)". Minor Planet Center. 4 September 2016. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
  2. Schmadel, Lutz D. (2007). "(15460) Manca". Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – (15460) Manca. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. p. 825. doi:10.1007/978-3-540-29925-7_9147. ISBN 978-3-540-00238-3.
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