 The body's observation arc begins at Algiers Observatory in North Africa on 28 July 1917, more than a year after its official its discovery observation at the Simeiz Observatory on 27 March 1916.This minor planet was named after Altona, Hamburg, the location of the Altona Observatory, at which Heinrich Christian Schumacher began publication of the astronomical journal "Astronomische Nachrichten" in 1821.Altona is the home-town of Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve, who founded the Pulkovo Observatory near St Petersburg, Russia.