[4] Neckar was discovered on 6 October 1931, by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth at Heidelberg Observatory in southwest Germany.

The family, named after 158 Koronis, is thought to have been formed at least two billion years ago in a catastrophic collision between two larger bodies.

[6][13] Photometric observations taken by Richard Binzel and Ed Tedesco in the 1970s and 1980s, however, gave a longer period and are now considered incorrect (U=0/0).

[8][9][10][11][12] The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link adopts an albedo of 0.123 obtained by Morrison in the 1970s,[18] and derives a diameter of 27.96 kilometers using an absolute magnitude of 10.66.

[4] This minor planet was named after the river Neckar, running through the southwestern parts of Germany and in particular through the city of Heidelberg, location of the discovering observatory.