323 Brucia was the first asteroid

Asteroid

Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...

 to be discovered by the use of astrophotography

Astrophotography

Astrophotography is a specialized type of photography that entails recording images of astronomical objects and large areas of the night sky. The first photographs of an astronomical object were taken in the 1840s, but it was not until the late 19th century that advances in technology allowed for...

. It was also the first of over 200 asteroids discovered by Max Wolf

Max Wolf

Maximilian Franz Joseph Cornelius Wolf was a German astronomer and a pioneer in the field of astrophotography...

, a pioneer in that method of finding astronomical object

Astronomical object

Astronomical objects or celestial objects are naturally occurring physical entities, associations or structures that current science has demonstrated to exist in the observable universe. The term astronomical object is sometimes used interchangeably with astronomical body...

s. Discovered in 1891, it was named in honour of Catherine Wolfe Bruce

Catherine Wolfe Bruce

Catherine Wolfe Bruce was a noted American philanthropist and patroness of astronomy.She was the daughter of the famous type founder George Bruce and Catherine Wolfe...

, a noted patroness of the science of astronomy

Astronomy

Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...

, who had donated $10,000 for the construction of the telescope used by Wolf.

It is also a Mars-crosser asteroid

Mars-crosser asteroid

A Mars-crosser is an asteroid whose orbit crosses that of Mars. The known numbered Mars-crossers are listed here. They include the two numbered Mars trojans 5261 Eureka and ....

.