Franck Marchis (born April 6, 1973 in Caen, France), astronomer and planetary scientist, is best known for his discovery and characterization of multiple asteroids, his study of Io volcanism and imaging of exoplanets, planets around other stars.

In 2007, he was appointed as a Planetary Scientist at the Carl Sagan Center of the SETI Institute where he expanded his research on multiple asteroids using space-telescope facilities (HST, Spitzer telescope) and participating to development of space mission concepts to explore these new worlds.

In June 2011, he took a full-time position at the Carl Sagan Center to lead the development of space mission concepts and new high-resolution & high contrast instruments for ground-based telescopes.

He has appeared and has been a science advisor of several TV shows and documentaries linked to his work on the search for life in our universe and the study of Io's volcanism and asteroids.

Marchis exploited the high-resolution capabilities offered by adaptive optics from groundbased telescope to survey hundreds of main belt asteroids and Trojans.

Using high imaging capability available on ground-based telescopes equipped with adaptive optics systems, F. Marchis and his team monitor and study the exotic volcanism of Io, Galilean satellite of Jupiter.