The body's observation arc begins with a precovery taken by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey in April 2000, nearly 10 years prior to its official discovery observation at Haleakala Observatory.[1] The discovery was announced in a Minor Planet Electronic Circular in July 2016, after additional observations by Pan-STARRS had been found (2010–2013), preceding the team's original observation from 11 January 2015, which led to the assignment of the object's first and only provisional designation, 2015 AM281.[2] The observations were made with Pan-STARRS 1.8-meter Ritchey–Chrétien telescope, and B. Gibson, T. Goggia, N. Primak, A. Schultz, and M. Willman were the observers.[2]
According to the Johnston's archive and American astronomer Michael Brown, 2015 AM281 measures 468 and 479 kilometers in diameter based on an assumed albedo of 0.09 and 0.07, respectively.[4][5] As of 2018, no rotational lightcurve has been obtained from photometric observations. The body's rotation period, pole and shape remain unknown.[3][7]