It was discovered on 19 July 1928, by English astronomer Harry Edwin Wood at the Union Observatory in Johannesburg, South Africa.
[2] Phongolo is a non-family asteroid from the main belt's background population.
[3][9] The space-based survey gave an albedo (see below) that is not in-line with a carbonaceous spectral type.
[8][9][10][11][12][13] Analysis of the best-rated lightcurve gave a rotation period of 8.335 hours and a consolidated brightness amplitude between 0.14 and 0.19 magnitude (U=3-).
[3][13] According to the surveys carried out by the Japanese Akari satellite and the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Pongola measures between 24.110 and 25.124 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.157 and 0.169.