1671 Chaika, provisional designation 1934 TD, is a background asteroid from the Astraea region in the central asteroid belt, approximately 10 kilometers (6 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 3 October 1934, by Soviet astronomer Grigory Neujmin at the Simeiz Observatory on the Crimean peninsula.^[1] The assumed S-type asteroid has a rotation period of 3.8 hours.^[11] It was named for Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova.^[2]

According to a HCM-analysis by Nesvorný, Chaika is a non-family asteroid from the main belt's background population,^[4] while for Milani and Knežević, it is a member of the larger Astraea family, named after 5 Astraea.^[5] 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.^[12]

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.^[3] The asteroid was first observed at the Lowell Observatory in April 1907. The body's observation arc begins at the Tokyo Observatory (389) in November 1930, almost 4 years prior to its official discovery observation at Simeiz–Crimea.^[1]

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.^[2] The asteroid's name was proposed by the Institute of Theoretical Astronomy (ITA) in St Petersburg. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 1 June 1967 (M.P.C. 2740).^[13]

Chaika is an assumed, stony S-type asteroid.^[11]

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 3.7718±0.0002 hours with a brightness variation of 0.18 magnitude (U=3).^[10] John Menke in collaboration with Walter Cooney and David Higgins determined a concurring period of 3.774±0.003 hours with an amplitude of 0.20 magnitude (U=3).^[14]

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.^[6][7][8][9] 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.^[11]

• Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB), query form (info Archived 16 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine)
• Dictionary of Minor Planet Names, Google books
• Asteroids and comets rotation curves, CdR – Observatoire de Genève, Raoul Behrend
• Discovery Circumstances: Numbered Minor Planets (1)-(5000) – Minor Planet Center
• 1671 Chaika at AstDyS-2, Asteroids—Dynamic Site
  • Ephemeris · Observation prediction · Orbital info · Proper elements · Observational info
• 1671 Chaika at the JPL Small-Body Database
  • Close approach · Discovery · Ephemeris · Orbit viewer · Orbit parameters · Physical parameters