Biography:Francesco Manca

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Short description: Italian astronomer
Minor planets discovered: 26 [1]
see § List of discovered minor planets

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]

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), 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 on telescopes and Radio telescopes such as the VLT, LBT, ELT (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

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) 1998 XY2 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:
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. http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/lists/MPDiscsNum.html. Retrieved 4 November 2016. 
  2. 2.0 2.1 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. 

External links