Marco Cavagna
Marco Cavagna (1958 – August 9, 2005) was an Italian amateur astronomer. During his career, Cavagna discovered numerous asteroids, operating from the Sormano Astronomical Observatory in Sormano, northern Italy. The Minor Planet Center credits him with the discovery of 19 minor planets he made between 1994 and 1998. In the 1970s and 1980s, he was one of Italy's leading observers of comets and national coordinator during the International Halley Watch in 1986. Cavagna was also a lecturer at the planetarium of Milan, co-founder of the Sormano Observatory, and a consultant for International Astronomical Union, IAU's commission XX (Positions & motions of minor planets, comets and satellites). Cavagna died of a stroke on 9 August 2005. The 0.5-meter Ritchey–Chrétien telescope at Sormano Observatory is now named in his memory. The inner main-belt asteroid 10149 Cavagna, discovered by astronomers Maura Tombelli and Andrea Boattini at San Marcello Pistoiese Observatory, was named aft ...
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Minor Planet
According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is exclusively classified as neither a planet nor a comet. Before 2006, the IAU officially used the term ''minor planet'', but that year's meeting reclassified minor planets and comets into dwarf planets and small Solar System bodies (SSSBs).Press release, IAU 2006 General Assembly: Result of the IAU Resolution votes
International Astronomical Union, August 24, 2006. Accessed May 5, 2008. Minor planets include asteroids (