[12] It was discovered by Grigory Neujmin at the Crimean Simeiz Observatory in 1936, and later named after Soviet mathematician and astronomer Mikhail Subbotin.
[1] This minor planet was named in memory of eminent Soviet mathematician and astronomer, Mikhail Subbotin (1893–1966), long-time director of the Institute of Theoretical Astronomy (ITA) in former Leningrad.
[4] In the SMASS-II taxonomy, Subbotina has been characterized as a dark Cg-type, a subtype of the wider group of carbonaceous C-type asteroids with low albedos.
[4] In October 2006, a rotational lightcurve of Subbotina was obtained from photometric observations by Italian Silvano Casulli and French Laurent Bernasconi, both amateur astronomers.
[14][17] According to the space-based surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS, the Japanese Akari satellite, and NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Subbotina measures between 34.8 and 43.0 kilometers in diameter and its surface has a notably low albedo in the range of 0.02 to 0.049.