It was discovered on 17 October 1930, by Soviet astronomer Grigory Neujmin at Simeiz Observatory on the Crimean peninsula, and later named after the Cimmerians, the ancient people of Crimea.
[1] In September 2004, the best rated rotational lightcurve of Cimmeria was obtained from photometric observations by American astronomer Brian Warner at his Palmer Divide Observatory in Colorado.
[a] In addition a modeled lightcurve, using photometric data from various sources, gave a period of 2.820723 hours, as well as a spin axis of (63.0°, n.a.)
[10] According to the survey carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Cimmeria measures between 7.85 and 10.058 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.2218 and 0.371,[5][6][7][8] while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20 and calculates a diameter of 10.54 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 12.25.
[4] This minor planet was named after the Cimmerians, ancient inhabitants of the Crimea peninsula expelled by the Scythians in the 7th century B.C.