[2] Ethel is a non-family asteroid of the main belt's background population.
[1] The body's observation arc begins with its identification as 1952 DU at Goethe Link Observatory in February 1952, more than 18 years prior to its official discovery observation Nauchnyj.
The body's rotation period, poles and shape remain unknown.
[1][7] This minor planet was named after Ethel Lilian Voynich (1864–1960), an Irish writer of the late Victorian epoch, best known for her novel The Gadfly.
[2] The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 1 September 1978 (M.P.C.