[10]: 23 In September 2012, a rotational lightcurve of Wolfiana was obtained from photometric observations by American astronomers Luis Martinez, Arizona, and Frederick Pilcher at Organ Mesa Observatory (G50), New Mexico.
Lightcurve analysis gave a well-defined rotation period of 4.0654 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.20 magnitude (U=3),[8] refining a period of 4.0 hours previously measured in November 2009 (U=2).
[5][6] The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo of 0.24 – derived from 8 Flora, the parent body of the Flora family – and calculates a diameter of 6.51 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 13.1.
[3] This minor planet was named by the discoverer in 1920 (AN 211;441) after German astronomer, colleague and friend, Max Wolf (1863–1932), a professor of astronomy at Heidelberg University and founder and director of the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory, who discovered several novae, comets and 248 minor planets.
Asteroid 1217 Maximiliana and the lunar crater Wolf were also named in his honor.