Hathor was discovered on 22 October 1976, by American astronomer Charles Kowal at Palomar Observatory, California, United States.
[7]: 21 Being a member of the Aten asteroids, Hathor orbits the Sun at a distance of 0.5–1.2 AU once every 0 years and 9 months (283 days).
[1] Its observation arc begins 3 days after its official discovery at Palomar, with no precoveries taken and no prior identifications made.
[1] In the 1990s, Dutch–American astronomer Tom Gehrels estimated Hathor's diameter to measure approximately 300 meters, assuming an albedo of 0.15.
[1] During its close approach to Earth in October 2014, a team of astronomer published a revised estimate of 210±30 meters for its diameter.
[6] In November 2014, American astronomer Brian Warner obtained a rotational lightcurve of Hathor from photometric observations taken at the Palmer Divide Station in Colorado (also see § External links).