[4][11]: 23 It orbits the Sun in at a distance of 2.8–3.2 AU once every 5 years and 3 months (1,911 days).
[1] The S-type asteroid measures between 23.0 and 35.5 kilometers in diameter, and its surface has an albedo between 0.118 and 0.277, according to the surveys carried out by IRAS, Akari, and NEOWISE.
[5][6][7][8] A rotational lightcurve of Sampo was obtained from photometric observations made by astronomers René Roy, Laurent Bernasconi and Stéphane Charbonnelat in March 2003.
It gave a potentially long rotation period of 71.34±0.05 hours with a brightness variation of 0.38 magnitude (U=2).
[2] The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 1 August 1980 (M.P.C.