It was discovered by English-born South African astronomer Cyril Jackson at Johannesburg Observatory on 31 July 1935.

[2] Laurel orbits the Sun in the central main-belt at a distance of 2.4–2.7 AU once every 4 years and 1 month (1,497 days).

[8] A rotational lightcurve for this asteroid was obtained from photometric observations by French amateur astronomer Pierre Antonini in September 2005.

[7] According to the space-based surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS, the Japanese Akari satellite, and NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, the asteroid measures between 14.7 and 25.0 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.09 and 0.22.

[4][5][6] The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link agrees with IRAS and derives an albedo of 0.24 and a diameter 14.8 kilometers.