It was discovered on 9 November 1928, by German astronomer Walter Baade at the Bergedorf Observatory in Hamburg, Germany, who named it after the Sequoia National Park located in California.

[10][11][14][15][16][17][18] Best rated lightcurve by Italian amateur astronomer Silvano Casulli from December 2006 gave a rotation period of 3.03784 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.44 magnitude (U=3).

[12] According to the surveys carried out by the Japanese Akari satellite and the NEOWISE mission of NASA's WISE telescope, Sequoia measures between 5.21 and 7.816 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.2813 and 0.823.

[6][7][8][9] The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link adopts Petr Pravec's revised WISE results, that is, an albedo of 0.2813 and a diameter of 7.82 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 12.53.

[4][9] This minor planet was named after the Sequoia National Park located in California, United States, where the discoverer spent his vacations.