It was discovered on 17 August 1988 by American astronomer Carolyn Shoemaker at the Palomar Observatory in California.
[7][9] In February 1994, a rotational lightcurve of Dares was obtained over five nights of observation by Stefano Mottola and Anders Erikson using the ESO 1-metre telescope at La Silla Observatory in Chile.
Lightcurve analysis showed a well-defined rotation period of 18.995±0.028 hours with a brightness variation of 0.24 magnitude (U=3).
[7][8] In October 2013, photometric observations in the R-band by astronomers at the Palomar Transient Factory in California gave a concurring period of 18.967 hours with an amplitude of 0.23 magnitude (U=2).
[7][12] According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Dares measures 42.77 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.067,[6] while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for a carbonaceous asteroid of 0.057 and calculates a diameter of 44.22 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 10.5.