It was discovered on 5 June 1959, by German astronomer Cuno Hoffmeister at Boyden Observatory in Bloemfontein, South Africa, and later named in the discoverer's honor.

[16] As it has a reflective surface, composed of a mixture different silicates, nickel and iron, Cuno has been characterized as a rare Q-type asteroid by the 1-meter Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope on La Palma, Pan-STARRS' large-scale magnitude survey, and NASA IRTF telescope.

Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of 3.56 hours with a high brightness amplitude between 0.47 and 0.83 in magnitude, indicating that the body has a non-spheroidal shape.

The resultant images are lacking in detail, but indicate a rough sphere with some kind of concave depression 1–2 km in diameter.

[4][5][7][8][9] The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for the stony asteroid of 0.20 and calculates a diameter of 3.9 kilometer with an absolute magnitude of 14.4, as the higher the body's albedo (reflectivity), the lower its diameter at a constant absolute magnitude (brightness).