[2] DeLaeter is a non-family asteroid of the main belt's background population when applying the Hierarchical Clustering Method to its proper orbital elements.
Photometric observations made by American astronomer Robert Stephens in June 2003 at the Santana Observatory (646) in Rancho Cucamonga, California, gave a synodic rotation period of 13.83 hours and a brightness variation of 0.33 magnitude (U=2).
[5][6][7][8][9] The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link adopts an albedo of 0.0573 and calculates a diameter of 13.95 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 13.0.
[3] This minor planet was named after Australian scientist John Robert de Laeter (1933–2010), who was a professor at Curtin University in Western Australia.
His research included pioneering application of mass spectrometry and problems in the field of nuclear physics, cosmochemistry, geochronology, isotope geochemistry.