It was discovered by German-French astronomer Hermann Goldschmidt on 19 September 1857 from his balcony in Paris.

[11] The asteroid is named after Pales, the goddess of shepherds in Roman mythology.

Since it was discovered on the same night as 48 Doris, geologist Élie de Beaumont suggested naming the two "The Twins".

[13] On 17 January 2000, this minor planet was observed occulting a 9th magnitude star from seven locations.

The lightcurve shows 4 maxima and 4 minima per cycle, suggesting an irregular shape.