Francesco Manca (born November 1966, in Milan, Italy) is an Italian amateur

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, g ...

and

discoverer of minor planets This is a list of minor-planet discoverers credited by the Minor Planet Center with the discovery of one or several minor planets (such as near-Earth and main-belt asteroids, Jupiter trojans and distant objects). , the discovery of 612,011 numb ...

at the

Sormano Astronomical Observatory The Sormano Astronomical Observatory ( it, Osservatorio Astronomico Sormano, obs. code: 587) is an astronomical observatory north of Milan, Italy. Located near the Swiss border at 1000 meters elevation at the mountain village of Sormano in the p ...

in northern Italy. Manca also performs follow-up

astrometry Astrometry is a branch of astronomy that involves precise measurements of the positions and movements of stars and other celestial bodies. It provides the kinematics and physical origin of the Solar System and this galaxy, the Milky Way. His ...

near-Earth object A near-Earth object (NEO) is any small Solar System body whose orbit brings it into proximity with Earth. By convention, a Solar System body is a NEO if its closest approach to the Sun (perihelion) is less than 1.3 astronomical units (AU). ...

s (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 In celestial mechanics, an orbit is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an object or position in space such as a p ...

and close approaches of

asteroids 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. ...

with the Earth (linked at Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) -

Jet Propulsion Laboratory The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a federally funded research and development center and NASA field center in the City of La Cañada Flintridge, California, United States. Founded in the 1930s by Caltech researchers, JPL is owned by NASA an ...

) and computation of orbit identifications of

(

Near Earth Asteroids A near-Earth object (NEO) is any small Solar System body whose orbit brings it into proximity with Earth. By convention, a Solar System body is a NEO if its closest approach to the Sun (perihelion) is less than 1.3 astronomical units (AU). ...

Mars-crossing asteroids A Mars-crossing asteroid (MCA, also Mars-crosser, MC) is an asteroid whose orbit crosses that of Mars. Some Mars-crossers numbered below 100000 are listed here. They include the two numbered Mars trojans 5261 Eureka and . Many databases, for ...

Hungaria group The Hungaria asteroids, also known as the Hungaria group, are a dynamical group of asteroids in the asteroid belt which orbit the Sun with a semi-major axis (longest radius of an ellipse) between 1.78 and 2.00 astronomical units (AU). They are the ...

Trans-Neptunian object A trans-Neptunian object (TNO), also written transneptunian object, is any minor planet in the Solar System that orbits the Sun at a greater average distance than Neptune, which has a semi-major axis of 30.1 astronomical units (au). Typically, ...

) and

comets A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena are ...

. He wrote many articles on specialistic magazines. Member of SIMCA ( it, Società Italiana Meccanica Celeste e Astrodinamica) and associated (INAF)

National Institute for Astrophysics The National Institute for Astrophysics ( it, Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, or INAF) is an Italian research institute in astronomy and astrophysics, founded in 1999. INAF funds and operates twenty separate research facilities, which in turn e ...

. His professional activity concerns the application of measuring systems as encoders for Right Ascension and Declination (azimuth and elevation), installed on

telescopes A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, absorption, or reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally meaning only an optical instrument using lenses, curved mirrors, or a combination of both to observe ...

and

Radio telescopes A radio telescope is a specialized antenna and radio receiver used to detect radio waves from astronomical radio sources in the sky. Radio telescopes are the main observing instrument used in radio astronomy, which studies the radio frequency po ...

such as the VLT, LBT, ELT (Extremely Large Telescope), ALMA (

Atacama Large Millimeter Array The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is an astronomical interferometer of 66 radio telescopes in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile, which observe electromagnetic radiation at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths. The a ...

), DAG (Turkish for

Eastern Anatolia Observatory Eastern Anatolia Observatory ( tr, Doğu Anadolu Gözlemevi, shortly DAG) is proposed ground-based astronomical observatory of Atatürk University in Erzurum, Turkey. The project to establish an observatory in Erzurum is conducted by the Astroph ...

), ASTRI (Astrophysics with mirrors at Italian Replicant Technology) and

NEOSTEL The Near Earth Object Survey TELescope (NEOSTEL - also known as "Flyeye") is an astronomical survey and early-warning system for detecting near-Earth objects sized and above a few weeks before they impact Earth. NEOSTEL is a project founded by ...

(FlyEye telescope) for ESA or on space instruments as

Solar Monitoring Observatory SOLAR was an ESA science observatory on the Columbus Laboratory, which is part of the International Space Station. SOLAR was launched with Columbus on February 2008 aboard STS-122. It was externally mounted to Columbus with the European Technol ...

. The Koronian asteroid

15460 Manca 15460 Manca, provisional designation , is a Koronian asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 5 kilometers in diameter. The asteroid was discovered on 25 December 1998, by Italian astronomers Andrea Boattini and Luciano ...

, discovered by

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, ...

San Marcello Pistoiese 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 1998, is named in his honour.

List of discovered minor planets

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 fro
ADSThe SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System

MPECs, CBETs and IAUCs

*

*
COMET P/2009 W1 (Hill)
*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*
COMET P/2015 HC_10 = P/2004 R1 (McNAUGHT)
*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

References

External links

Sormano Astronomical Observatory - Osservatorio Astronomico Sormano

* ttp://www.brera.mi.astro.it/sormano/tam.html TAM - Table of Asteroids Next Closest Approaches to the Moon
APEC - Interesting Asteroids Past Earth Close encounters

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/19990508161132/http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/ JPL - Near Earth Object Program
Minor Planet Center

Catalina Sky Survey

NEODys

The Planetary Society

ADS company Telescope Projects

EIE Group Telescope Projects

NEOSTEL (FlyEye) Telescope for ESA

Officina Stellare, Ground based telescopes and Space applications

FlyEye mount and telescope

{{DEFAULTSORT:Manca, Francesco 1966 births Discoverers of asteroids * 20th-century Italian astronomers Living people Planetary scientists

List of discovered minor planets

See also

Publications

MPECs, CBETs and IAUCs

References

External links