The rare T-type asteroid has a notably long rotation period of 72 hours and measures approximately 18 kilometers (11 miles).

It was discovered on 6 November 1931, by Soviet astronomer Grigory Neujmin at Simeiz Observatory on the Crimean peninsula, and named after the ancient Greek prostitute Thaïs.

[3][4] Thaïs is a non-family asteroid of the main belt's background population when applying the hierarchical clustering method to its proper orbital elements.

[4] This minor planet was named after Thaïs, the famous Greek hetaera (ancient prostitute), who lived during the time of Alexander the Great (356–323 BC) and accompanied him on his campaigns.

[7][8][9][10][11] The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link adopts the results obtained by IRAS, that is, an albedo of 0.0599 and a diameter of 22.34 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 11.93.