It was discovered on 23 November 1989, by Japanese astronomers Yoshio Kushida and Osamu Muramatsu at the Yatsugatake South Base Observatory, Hokuto, near the Greater Tokyo Area, Japan.
It orbits the Sun in the central main-belt at a distance of 2.1–3.3 AU once every 4 years and 5 months (1,620 days).
[6] A rotational lightcurve of Otani was obtained from photometric observations at the Palomar Transient Factory in February 2013.
[4] The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo 0.21 – derived from 15 Eunomia, the family's largest member and namesake – and calculates a diameter of 3.84 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 14.39.
[2] The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 2 April 1999 (M.P.C.