It was discovered by German-French astronomer Hermann Mayer Salomon Goldschmidt on October 26, 1854,[5] and is named after Pōmōna, the Roman goddess of fruit trees.

The data was used to construct a model for the asteroid, revealing it to be an angular object that is spinning about a pole with ecliptic coordinates (β, λ) = (+58°, 267°).

[6] The spectrum of 32 Pomona matches an S-type in the Tholen classification system, and is similar to primitive achondrite meteorites.

[7] Measurements of the thermal inertia of 32 Pomona give a value of around 20–120 m−2 K−1 s−1/2, compared to 50 for lunar regolith and 400 for coarse sand in an atmosphere.

[8] Australian amateur astronomer Jonathan Bradshaw recorded an unusual asteroid occultation by 32 Pomona on 16 August 2008.