It was discovered by the American astronomer couple Carolyn and Eugene Shoemaker at the U.S. Palomar Observatory, California, on 24 April 1985.
[3][8] A rotational lightcurve of Alanhale was obtained from photometric observations made at the U.S. Palomar Transient Factory in October 2010.
The fragmentary lightcurve gave a rotation period of 11.9177±0.0047 hours with a low brightness variation of 0.07 in magnitude (U=1).
[4][5][6] The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.08 and calculates a smaller diameter of 15.4 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 12.43.
[3] This minor planet was named in honor of American astronomer Alan Hale (born 1958), co-discoverer of comet Hale–Bopp.