It was discovered on August 29, 2001, by astronomers Jean-Luc Margot and Michael E. Brown with the Keck telescope, in Hawaii.

The naming proposal appeared in the discovery paper[3] and was approved by the International Astronomical Union in July 2003.

The only known larger moons in the main belt are the smaller components of the double asteroids 617 Patroclus and 90 Antiope.

It has been estimated that Linus' orbit precesses at quite a rapid rate, making one cycle in several years.

[7] Linus may have formed out of impact ejecta from a collision with Kalliope, or a fragment captured after disruption of a parent asteroid (a proto-Kalliope).