With an albedo of only 0.04, it is darker than soot, and has a primitive composition consisting of carbonaceous material.

It was discovered by J. C. Watson on September 6, 1867, in Ann Arbor, and named after Aurora, the Roman goddess of the dawn.

This asteroid is orbiting the Sun with a period of 5.62 years and a relatively low eccentricity of 0.092.

Observations of an occultation using nine chords indicate an oval outline of 225×173 km.

[4] The asteroid's pole of rotation lies just 4–16° away from the plane of the ecliptic.