 "Gehrels" was discovered during the Palomar–Leiden survey by the Dutch astronomer couple Ingrid and Cornelis van Houten, in collaboration with Dutch–American astronomer Tom Gehrels at Palomar Observatory, California, on 24 September 1960.The survey designation "P-L" stands for "Palomar–Leiden", named after Palomar and Leiden Observatory, which collaborated on the fruitful Palomar–Leiden survey in the 1960s.Gehrels used Palomar's Samuel Oschin telescope (also known as the 48-inch Schmidt Telescope), and shipped the photographic plates to Ingrid and Cornelis van Houten at Leiden Observatory, where astrometry was carried out.