[11] In July 2007, astronomer Lorenzo Franco obtained a rotational lightcurve of Wilkens at the Balzaretto Observatory (A81) near Rome, Italy.
[8] Photometric observations in the S-band at the Palomar Transient Factory in January 2014, gave a period of 7.3017 hours with an amplitude of 0.34 (U=2).
[5][6][7] The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.10 and calculates a diameter of 12.12 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 12.7.
[3] This minor planet was named for German astronomer Alexander Wilkens (1881–1968), researcher in many branches of astronomy, most notably celestial mechanics.
After having worked for many years in Germany, he trained two generations of celestial mechanicians at the discovering La Plata Observatory before returning to his native country.