1250 Galanthus and an inclination of 15° with respect to the ecliptic. The body's observation arc begins at Heidelberg the night after its official discovery observation. "Galanthus" is an assumed carbonaceous C-type asteroid. In the early 1980s, a rotational lightcurve of "Galanthus" was obtained during a survey conducted by Richard P. Binzel at the McDonald Observatory, Texas. Lightcurve analysis gave a well-defined rotation period of 3.92 hours with a brightness variation of 0.28 magnitude (). The period was confirmed from photometric observations by astronomers at the Palomar Transient Factory in October 2015, which gave a similar period of 3.918 hours and an
Luzula nivalis is the species's basionym and was used before "L. arctica". "Luzula nivalis" is a relatively small perennial herbaceous plant (or "herb") which grows to heights of between in a caespitose fashion. "L. nivalis "has fibrous roots and ascending rhizomes, older plants have vertical stems either at ground level or underground; the plant base is straw-brown/pale castaneous brown in colour. The plant is subglabrous with erect, aerial stems and numerous alternate basal leaves. These crowded leaves are marcescent, flat, remain for many years, usually up to long and wide." L. nivalis" also has 1–2 cauline leaves which are long; both leaf