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140 Siwa

main-belt asteroid

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 4, 2026
Entity authorityQ209472 ↗
Source-derived summary

140 Siwa is a large and dark main-belt asteroid that was discovered by Austrian astronomer Johann Palisa on October 13, 1874. It was named after Živa (Šiwa), a Slavic goddess of fertility. This object is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 2.73 AU with an eccentricity of 0.22 and an orbital period of 4.52 years. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 3.2°.

A 2004 study of the spectrum of 140 Siwa matched a typical C-type asteroid with typical carbonaceous chondrite makeup. There are no absorption features of mafic minerals found. The classification was later revised to a P-type asteroid.

Infrared measurement yields a diameter estimate of 110 km. Attempts to measure the rotation period of 140 Siwa have produced inconsistent results ranging from 14.7 to 32 hours. Photometric observations of this asteroid at the Organ Mesa Observatory in Las Cruces, New Mexico during 2010 gave an irregular light curve with a period of 34.407 ± 0.002 hours and a brightness variation of 0.05 ± 0.01 in magnitude.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “140 Siwa” is main-belt asteroid. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Siwa, main-belt and asteroid, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1874, 2004, 2010—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. For this dossier, Siwa, main-belt and asteroid is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “main-belt asteroid” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q209472. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1874, 2004 and 2010.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

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Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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  2. Expand the search: follow 140 Siwa primary sources, 140 Siwa archive and Siwa research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “140 Siwa” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.