1671 Chaika, provisional designation , is a background

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet of the inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic or icy bodies with no atmosphere. ...

from the Astraea region in the central asteroid belt, approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 3 October 1934, by Soviet astronomer Grigory Neujmin at the Simeiz Observatory on the Crimean peninsula. The assumed S-type asteroid has a

rotation period The rotation period of a celestial object (e.g., star, gas giant, planet, moon, asteroid) may refer to its sidereal rotation period, i.e. the time that the object takes to complete a single revolution around its axis of rotation relative to the ...

of 3.8 hours. It was named for Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova.

Orbit and classification

According to a HCM-analysis by Nesvorný, ''Chaika'' is a non- family asteroid from the main belt's background population, while for Milani and

Knežević Knežević ( sr, Кнежевић) is a Serbian, Croatian, Montenegrin and Bosnian surname, derived from the title of '' knez''. It may refer to: * House of Knežević, Croatian noble family Knežević is the eighth most frequent surname in C ...

, it is a member of the larger

Astraea family An asteroid family is a population of asteroids that share similar proper orbital elements, such as semimajor axis, eccentricity (orbit), eccentricity, and orbital inclination. The members of the families are thought to be Collisional family, fra ...

, named after

5 Astraea Astraea (minor planet designation: 5 Astraea) is a large asteroid from the asteroid belt. Its surface is highly reflective (bright) and its composition is probably a mixture of nickel– iron with silicates of magnesium and iron. It is an ...

. The Astraea family is not recognized by Nesvorný as a collisional

asteroid family An asteroid family is a population of asteroids that share similar proper orbital elements, such as semimajor axis, eccentricity, and orbital inclination. The members of the families are thought to be fragments of past asteroid collisions. An a ...

, who rather considers it an artifact in the model due to a resonant alignment. It orbits the Sun in the

central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

asteroid belt at a distance of 1.9–3.3 AU once every 4 years and 2 months (1,520 days;

semi-major axis In geometry, the major axis of an ellipse is its longest diameter: a line segment that runs through the center and both foci, with ends at the two most widely separated points of the perimeter. The semi-major axis (major semiaxis) is the long ...

of 2.59 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.26 and an inclination of 4 ° with respect to the ecliptic. The asteroid was first observed at the

Lowell Observatory Lowell Observatory is an astronomical observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, United States. Lowell Observatory was established in 1894, placing it among the oldest observatories in the United States, and was designated a National Historic Landmark ...

in April 1907. The body's observation arc begins at the Tokyo Observatory in November 1930, almost 4 years prior to its official discovery observation at Simeiz–Crimea.

Naming

This minor planet was named in honor of Soviet cosmonaut Valentina "Chaika" Tereshkova (born 1937). Tereshkova received the call sign "Chaika" – the Russian word for

seagull Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the family Laridae in the suborder Lari. They are most closely related to the terns and skimmers and only distantly related to auks, and even more distantly to waders. Until the 21st century, m ...

– as she was the first woman to fly in space. The asteroid's name was proposed by the Institute of Theoretical Astronomy (ITA) in St Petersburg. The official was published by the

Minor Planet Center The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Function ...

on 1 June 1967 ().

Physical characteristics

''Chaika'' is an assumed, stony S-type asteroid.

Rotation period

In November 2005, a rotational lightcurve of ''Chaika'' was obtained from photometric observations by Italian astronomers Roberto Crippa, Federico Manzini and Josep Coloma. Lightcurve analysis gave a

of hours with a brightness variation of 0.18 magnitude (). John Menke in collaboration with Walter Cooney and David Higgins determined a concurring period of hours with an amplitude of 0.20 magnitude ().

Diameter and albedo

According to the surveys carried out by the Japanese Akari satellite and the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, ''Chaika'' measures between 7.5 and 13.3 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.12 and 0.29. The ''Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link'' assumes a standard albedo for a stony asteroid of 0.20 and calculates a diameter of 11.30 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 12.1.

References

External links

Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB)
query form

)
Dictionary of Minor Planet Names
Google books

– Observatoire de Genève, Raoul Behrend

– Minor Planet Center * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chaika 001671 Discoveries by Grigory Neujmin Named minor planets Valentina Tereshkova 19341003