Russell is a member of the Koronis family (605), a very large outer asteroid family with nearly co-planar ecliptical orbits.[3][4] It orbits the Sun in the outer main-belt at a distance of 2.7–3.1 AU once every 4 years and 11 months (1,781 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.08 and an inclination of 2° with respect to the ecliptic.[1]
The asteroid was first identified as 1947 LM at Lowell Observatory in June 1947.
The body's observation arc begins with a precovery at Goethe Link Observatory in February 1950, more than 3 years prior to its official discovery observation.[10]
In April 2014, a rotational lightcurve of Russell was obtained from photometric observations at the Sonoita Research Observatory (G93) and Etscorn Campus Observatory (719). Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of 12.797 hours with a brightness variation of 0.46 magnitude (U=3-).[8]
The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.24 and calculates a diameter of 15.61 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 11.2.[3]
^ abcdUsui, Fumihiko; Kuroda, Daisuke; Müller, Thomas G.; Hasegawa, Sunao; Ishiguro, Masateru; Ootsubo, Takafumi; et al. (October 2011). "Asteroid Catalog Using Akari: AKARI/IRC Mid-Infrared Asteroid Survey". Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan. 63 (5): 1117–1138. Bibcode:2011PASJ...63.1117U. doi:10.1093/pasj/63.5.1117. (online, AcuA catalog p. 153)
^Schmadel, Lutz D. (2009). "Appendix – Publication Dates of the MPCs". Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – Addendum to Fifth Edition (2006–2008). Springer Berlin Heidelberg. p. 221. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-01965-4. ISBN978-3-642-01964-7.