Francesco Manca

Minor planets discovered: 26<ref name="MPC-Discoverers" />
see Template:Section link

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.<ref name="springer" />

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 (Template:Langx), 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.<ref name="springer" />

List of discovered minor planets

important; height: 324px;
9111 Matarazzo	28 January 1997	Template:Small Template:Ref label
9115 Battisti	27 February 1997	Template:Small Template:Ref label
Template:Mp	19 April 1996	Template:Small Template:Ref label
10387 Bepicolombo	18 October 1996	Template:Small Template:Ref label
10605 Guidoni	3 November 1996	Template:Small Template:Ref label
10606 Crocco	3 November 1996	Template:Small Template:Ref label
11652 Johnbrownlee	7 February 1997	Template:Small Template:Ref label
12405 Nespoli	15 September 1995	Template:Small Template:Ref label
18542 Broglio	29 December 1996	Template:Small Template:Ref label
18556 Battiato	7 February 1997	Template:Small Template:Ref label
19318 Somanah	2 December 1996	Template:Small Template:Ref label
21289 Giacomel	3 November 1996	Template:Small Template:Ref label

important; height: 324px;
26197 Bormio	31 March 1997	Template:Small Template:Ref label
27855 Giorgilli	4 January 1995	Template:Small Template:Ref label
32944 Gussalli	19 November 1995	Template:Small Template:Ref label
35334 Yarkovsky	31 March 1997	Template:Small Template:Ref label
37022 Robertovittori	22 October 2000	Template:Small Template:Ref label
39734 Marchiori	14 December 1996	Template:Small Template:Ref label
43956 Elidoro	7 February 1997	Template:Small Template:Ref label
43957 Invernizzi	7 February 1997	Template:Small Template:Ref label
48643 Allen-Beach	20 October 1995	Template:Small Template:Ref label
59087 Maccacaro	15 November 1998	Template:Small Template:Ref label
69961 Millosevich	15 November 1998	Template:Small Template:Ref label
79847 Colzani	7 December 1998	Template:Small Template:Ref label

important;
Template:Mp	15 November 1998	Template:Small Template:Ref label
Template:Mp	3 November 1997	Template:Small Template:Ref label
Co-discovery made with: Template:Note label P. Sicoli Template:Note label P. Chiavenna Template:Note label V. Giuliani Template:Note label A. Testa Template:Note label M. Cavagna Template:Note label G. Ventre

"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 )
"TANDEM: a new SST station at INAF-OAS Loiano Observatory", Presentation at 75th International Astronautical Congress (IAC), (2024 D. Gallieni, F. Manca)
Publication excerpt from ADS (The SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System)