15460 Manca, provisional designation , is a Koronian
asteroid
An asteroid is a minor planet of the inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic or icy bodies with no atmosphere.
...
from the outer region of the
asteroid belt
The asteroid belt is a torus-shaped region in the Solar System, located roughly between the orbits of the planets Jupiter and Mars. It contains a great many solid, irregularly shaped bodies, of many sizes, but much smaller than planets, called ...
, approximately 5 kilometers in diameter.
The asteroid was discovered on 25 December 1998, by Italian astronomers
Andrea Boattini
Andrea Boattini (born 16 September 1969) is an Italian astronomer and a prolific discoverer of minor planets and comets.
Career
After developing a growing interest in minor planets, he graduated in 1996 from the University of Bologna with a t ...
and
Luciano Tesi
Luciano Tesi (; born 10 December 1931) is an Italian veterinarian, amateur astronomer, discoverer of many minor planets, and director of the San Marcello Pistoiese Observatory.
In 1980, he founded the "Amateur Group of Pistoiese Mountain" ( it, ...
at
Pistoia Mountains Astronomical Observatory
The Pistoia Mountains Astronomical Observatory ( it, Osservatorio Astronomico della Montagna Pistoiese; obs. code: 104), also known as the ''San Marcello Observatory'' and the ''Pian dei Termini Observatory'' ( it, Osservatorio di Pian dei Termin ...
in San Marcello Pistoiese, central Italy. It was named for Italian amateur astronomer Francesco Manca.
Orbit and classification
''Manca'' belongs to the
Koronis family ]
The Koronis or Koronian family (), also known as the Lacrimosa family, is a very large asteroid family of S-type asteroid, stony asteroids, located in the Kirkwood gap, outer region of the asteroid belt. They are thought to have been formed at le ...