It may be named for Mary Magdalene, who in legend travelled to Southern Gaul and is the patron saint of Provence.

[3] On April 15, 2005, UT Magdalena occulted a 10.7 mag star in the constellation Scutum for observers along a path across Australia.

Measurements made with the IRAS observatory give a diameter of 106.08 ± 0.25 km and a geometric albedo of 0.03 ± 0.01.

By comparison, the MIPS photometer on the Spitzer Space Telescope gives a diameter of 105.32 ± 11.11 km and a geometric albedo of 0.03 ± 0.01.

[4] Alternative rock group The Pixies named one of their songs after the asteroid on their album Indie Cindy.