[4][5][16]: 23 It orbits the Sun in the outer main belt at a distance of 2.6–3.7 AU once every 5 years and 6 months (2,016 days).
[1][17] In October 2015, a rotational lightcurve of Athalia was obtained from photometric observations by American astronomer Frederick Pilcher at the Organ Mesa Observatory (G50) in New Mexico, United States.
Lightcurve analysis gave a well-defined rotation period of 10.636 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.22 magnitude (U=3).
[6][7][8][9][10][11][12] The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link adopts the results obtained by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS, that is, an albedo of 0.039 and a diameter of 38.22 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 11.23.
[4] This minor planet was named after Athaliah (Athalia), the daughter of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel of Israel.