[3] In the SMASS taxonomy, Lemaître is characterized as a Sq-type, a transitional class of stony S-type and Q-type asteroids.
[1] In September 2007, a rotational light-curve of Lemaître was obtained from photometric observations by American astronomer Brian D. Warner at his Palmer Divide Observatory, Colorado.
It gave a rotation period of 11.403 hours with a brightness variation of 0.04 magnitude (U=2), superseding a provisional period of 2.4 hours with an amplitude of 0.03 magnitude, derived from photometric observations made by Arnaud Leroy, Bernard Trégon, Xavier Durivaud and Federico Manzini two months earlier (U=1+).
[6][7][8] The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for Phocaea asteroids of 0.23 – derived from 25 Phocaea, the family's most massiv member and namesake – and calculates a diameter of 8.76 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 12.5.
[4] This minor planet was named in honour of Belgian priest, astronomer and professor of physics, Georges Lemaître (1894–1966), widely regarded as the father of the Big Bang theory.