[2][13] Heckmann is a member of the Polanian subgroup of the Nysa family of asteroids and shows a rare F-type spectrum in the Tholen classification scheme.
[13] French amateur astronomer René Roy obtained the first rotational lightcurve of Heckmann in September 2005.
[9] A more refined lightcurve with a period of 14.893 hours and an amplitude of 0.16 magnitude was obtained by Australian amateur astronomer David Higgins at the Hunters Hill Observatory and collaborating stations in March 2008 (U=3).
[10] In September 2013, photometric observations at the Palomar Transient Factory, California, gave a low rated lightcurve with a similar period of 14.9042 hours (Δ 0.09 mag; U=1).
[4][5][6][7][8] The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link agrees with the results obtained by IRAS, that is an albedo of 0.0497 and a diameter of 29.07 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 11.56.