It was discovered on 24 October 1976, by astronomer Richard Martin West at the La Silla Observatory in northern Chile.
[3] Photometric measurements made from the Oakley Southern Sky Observatory during 2012 gave a lightcurve with a period of 12.141 ± 0.003 hours and a variation in brightness of 0.18 ± 0.03 in magnitude (U=2+).
[5][6][7] The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link derives an albedo of 0.0665 and a diameter of 34.06 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 10.9.
[3] This minor planet was named after Dutch astronomer Adriaan Blaauw (1914–2010), who was director of the European Southern Observatory (1970–74), president of the International Astronomical Union (1976–79) and professor at the Leiden Observatory (1975–1981).
[2] The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 1 July 1979 (M.P.C.