[2] 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).
[3] In September 2013, photometric observations at the Palomar Transient Factory, California, gave a rotational lightcurve with a period of 11.1084±0.0066 hours and a brightness variation of 0.13 in magnitude (U=2).
[7] 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.
[3] 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).
[2] The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 1 June 1975 (M.P.C.