It was discovered by Austrian astronomer Johann Palisa on 30 March 1882, in Vienna.

It was named after the Pacific Ocean.

Based upon its spectrum, it is classified as an M-type asteroid, but is not metallic.

A light curve generated from photometric observations of this asteroid at Pulkovo Observatory show a rotation period of 9.401 ± 0.001 hours and a brightness variation of 0.09 ± 0.01 in magnitude.

[4] 224 Oceana was one of five minor planets included in the 1993 study, Transition Comets -- UV Search for OH Emissions in Asteroids, which was research involving amateur astronomers who were permitted to make use of the Hubble Space Telescope.