Varuna has a rapid rotation period of approximately 6.34 hours, derived from a double-peaked solution for Varuna's rotational light curve. Varuna's rotation was first measured January 2001 by astronomer Tony Farnham using the McDonald Observatory's 2.1-meter telescope, as part of a study on the rotation and colors of distant objects. CCD photometry of Varuna's light curve in 2001 revealed that it displays large brightness variations with an amplitude of about 0.5 magnitudes. The measured rotational light curve of Varuna provided two ambiguous rotation periods of 3.17 and 6.34 hours, for a single-peaked and a double-peaked solution, respectively. Additional possible rotation periods of 2.79 and 3.66 hours were also obtained by Farnham, although these values could not be ruled out at the time.