| see§ List of discovered minor planets |
Francesco Manca (born November 1966, in Milan, Italy) is an Italian amateurastronomer anddiscoverer of minor planets at theSormano Astronomical Observatory in northern Italy.[2]
Manca also performs follow-upastrometry ofnear-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 oforbit and close approaches ofasteroids with the Earth (linked at Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) -Jet Propulsion Laboratory) and computation of orbit identifications ofasteroids (Near Earth Asteroids,Mars-crossing asteroids,Hungaria group,Trans-Neptunian object) andcomets.
He wrote many articles on specialistic magazines. Member of SIMCA (Italian:Società Italiana Meccanica Celeste e Astrodinamica), associated (INAF)National Institute for Astrophysics and International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN). His professional activity concerns the application of measuring systems as encoders for Right Ascension and Declination (azimuth and elevation), installed ontelescopes andRadio telescopes such as theVLT,LBT,ELT (Extremely Large Telescope), ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter Array), DAG (Turkish forEastern Anatolia Observatory), ASTRI (Astrophysics with mirrors at Italian Replicant Technology) andNEOSTEL (FlyEye telescope) for ESA or on space instruments asSolar Monitoring Observatory.
TheKoronian asteroid15460 Manca, discovered byAndrea Boattini andLuciano Tesi atSan Marcello Pistoiese Observatory in 1998, is named in his honour.[2]
| important; height: 324px; | ||
|---|---|---|
| 9111 Matarazzo | 28 January 1997 | list [A] |
| 9115 Battisti | 27 February 1997 | list [A] |
| (9796) 1996 HW | 19 April 1996 | list [B] |
| 10387 Bepicolombo | 18 October 1996 | list [A] |
| 10605 Guidoni | 3 November 1996 | list [C] |
| 10606 Crocco | 3 November 1996 | list [C] |
| 11652 Johnbrownlee | 7 February 1997 | list [A] |
| 12405 Nespoli | 15 September 1995 | list [C] |
| 18542 Broglio | 29 December 1996 | list [D] |
| 18556 Battiato | 7 February 1997 | list [A] |
| 19318 Somanah | 2 December 1996 | list [E] |
| 21289 Giacomel | 3 November 1996 | list [C] |
| important; height: 324px; | ||
|---|---|---|
| 26197 Bormio | 31 March 1997 | list [A] |
| 27855 Giorgilli | 4 January 1995 | list [D] |
| 32944 Gussalli | 19 November 1995 | list [A] |
| 35334 Yarkovsky | 31 March 1997 | list [A] |
| 37022 Robertovittori | 22 October 2000 | list [F] |
| 39734 Marchiori | 14 December 1996 | list [B] |
| 43956 Elidoro | 7 February 1997 | list [A] |
| 43957 Invernizzi | 7 February 1997 | list [A] |
| 48643 Allen-Beach | 20 October 1995 | list [A] |
| 59087 Maccacaro | 15 November 1998 | list [A] |
| 69961 Millosevich | 15 November 1998 | list [A] |
| 79847 Colzani | 7 December 1998 | list [D] |
| important; | ||
|---|---|---|
| (96583) 1998 VG34 | 15 November 1998 | list [A] |
| (100641) 1997 VO4 | 3 November 1997 | list [C] |
| Co-discovery made with: AP. Sicoli BP. Chiavenna CV. Giuliani DA. Testa EM. Cavagna FG. Ventre | ||