It was discovered on 5 September 1923, by Russian astronomer Sergey Belyavsky at the Simeiz Observatory on the Crimean peninsula.
[2] Arago orbits the Sun in the outer main-belt at a distance of 2.8–3.5 AU once every 5 years and 8 months (2,058 days).
[12] According to the surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS, the Japanese Akari satellite, and NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Arago measures between 48.57 and 68.404 kilometers (30.180 and 42.504 mi) in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.0498 and 0.08.
[4][5][6][7][8][10] The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link derives an albedo of 0.0582 and a diameter of 57.69 kilometers (35.85 mi) based on an absolute magnitude of 9.9.
[3][10] This minor planet was named after French mathematician François Arago (1786–1853) director of the Paris Observatory.