1671 Chaika

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, it is a member of the larger Astraea family, named after 5 Astraea. The Astraea family is not recognized by Nesvorný as a collisional asteroid family, who rather considers it an artifact in the model due to a resonant alignment.

It orbits the Sun in the central asteroid belt at a distance of 1.9–3.3 AU once every 4 years and 2 months (1,520 days; semi-major axis 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 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 – 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 on 1 June 1967 (M.P.C. 2740).

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 rotation period 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