238 Hypatia is a large main-belt asteroid that was discovered by Russian astronomer Viktor Knorre on July 1, 1884, in Berlin.

Based upon the spectrum, it is classified as a C-type asteroid[4] and is probably composed of primitive carbonaceous material.

Like many asteroids of this type, its surface is very dark in colour.

Photometric observations of this asteroid at the European Southern Observatory in 1981 gave a light curve with a period of 8.9 ± 0.1 hours and a brightness variation of 0.12 in magnitude.

The resulting chords provided cross-section diameter estimates of 146.5 and 145.3 km, respectively.