It was discovered on 27 February 1990, by American astronomer Eleanor Helin at Palomar Observatory in California, and later named for JPL-scientist Daniel McCleese.
[11] It is a member of the Hungaria family, which form the innermost dense concentration of asteroids in the Solar System.
The asteroid orbits the Sun in the innermost main-belt at a distance of 1.6–2.0 AU once every 2 years and 5 months (896 days).
[7][8] In June 2010, McCleese was again observed by Brian Warner at his Palmer Divide Observatory in Colorado, United States.
[5][6] In agreement with WISE, the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.3 and derives a diameter of 3.67 kilometers using an absolute magnitude of 14.1.