It was discovered on 3 May 1984, by American astronomer Brian Skiff at Lowell's Anderson Mesa Station, Arizona, in the United States.

[7]: 23 It orbits the Sun in the outer main-belt at a distance of 3.1–3.2 AU once every 5 years and 8 months (2,076 days).

[1] In 1958 it was first identified as 1958 VB1 at the Goethe Link Observatory, extending the body's observation arc by 26 years prior to its official discovery at Anderson Mesa.

The fictional time machine looks like a police telephone box from mid-twentieth century Britain.

[8] According to the survey carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS and NASA's NEOWISE mission, TARDIS measures 28.2 and 29.7 kilometers in diameter, and its surface has a low albedo of 0.055 and 0.067, respectively.