It was discovered on 6 November 1986, by American astronomer Edward Bowell at the Anderson Mesa Station near Flagstaff, Arizona.
[11] Perth is an assumed S-type asteroid,[3] which corresponds with the overall spectral type of the Flora family.
[12]: 23 In February 2008, a rotational lightcurve of Perth was obtained by a collaboration of astronomers in a photometric survey of the Flora region.
[6] Other photometric observations at the Palomar Transient Factory in October 2010, and by Wiesław Wiśniewski in December 1993, gave a period of 5.087 and 5.2 hours with an amplitude of 0.92 and 1.09, respectively (U=2/2+).
[8][7] According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Perth measures 4.80 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.335,[5] while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.24 – taken from 8 Flora the Flora family's largest member and namesake – and derives a diameter of 4.18 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 14.06.