1859 Kovalevskaya

1859 Kovalevskaya, provisional designation, is a carbonaceous asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 40 kilometers in diameter.

It was discovered on 4 September 1972, by Russian–Ukrainian astronomer Lyudmila Zhuravleva at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory in Nauchnyj, on the Crimean peninsula. The asteroid was named after Russian mathematician Sofia Kovalevskaya.

Orbit and classification
Kovalevskaya orbits the Sun in the outer main-belt at a distance of 2.9–3.5 AU once every 5 years and 9 months (2,100 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.10 and an inclination of 8° with respect to the ecliptic.

It was first identified as at Heidelberg Observatory in 1915, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 57 years prior to its official discovery observation at Nauchnyj.

Physical characteristics
Kovalevskaya has been characterized as a dark C-type asteroid.

Lightcurves
In September 2013, photometric observations at the Palomar Transient Factory, California, gave a rotational lightcurve with a period of $44.634$ hours and a brightness variation of 0.13 in magnitude (U=2).

Diameter and albedo
According to the surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) and the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Kovalevskaya measures between 44.6 and 48.8 kilometers in diameter, and its surface has a low albedo between 0.043 and 0.069.

The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for carbonaceous asteroids of 0.057 and calculates a smaller diameter of 34.4 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 11.05.

Naming
This minor planet was named after the first major Russian mathematician, Sofia Kovalevskaya (1850–1891), who has made important contributions to partial differential equations and rigid body motion (also see Kovalevskaya top). The lunar crater Kovalevskaya is also named after her. The official was published by the Minor Planet Center on 1 June 1975 (M.P.C. 3826).

From 1972 to 1992, the discoverer of this asteroid, Lyudmila Zhuravleva, has made more than 200 minor planets discoveries, and ranks 61st on the Minor Planet Center discoverer chart.