It was discovered on 5 June 1910 at Heidelberg by German astronomer Joseph Helffrich, and may have been named after Hel, the Norse ruler of the underworld.

[4] This asteroid is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 2.61 AU with a period of 4.22 years and an eccentricity of 0.41.

[2] With an absolute magnitude of 11.7,[2] the asteroid is about 12–27 km in diameter.

[3] It is classified as a stony Sk[5] or Sq-type[2] asteroid in the SMASS taxonomy.

Photometry data used to produce light curves provide a rotation period of 3.39624±0.00006 h. The lightcurve inversion method was used to build a shape model with a rounded form and an equatorial bulge.