A Brief History
The first asteroid (Ceres) was discovered Jan. 1, 1801 by Piazzi in an orbit at 2.77 AU.
By the Mid-1800’s: Pallas, Juno Vesta were found
1891: Only 300 asteroids known; Max Wolf introduced photographic search, discovered 228 on his own.
1980’s: More than 3000 known with well determined orbits
1999: Nearly 10,000 numbered asteroids