Small Asteroid 2014 AA Hits Earth

[Ravenchamp]

Small Asteroid 2014 AA Hits Earth

It was New Year's Eve, but that didn't stop observer Richard Kowalski from scanning the sky for near-Earth objects (NEOs).

He hadn't been using the 60-inch telescope on Arizona's Mount Lemmon for long when he noticed a 19th-magnitude blip skimming through northern Orion in a seven-image series begun at 11:16 p.m. MST (6:18 Universal Time on January 1st). After confirming that it was a new find, Kowalski dutifully submitted positions and times to the IAU's Minor Planet Center. Then he went back to the night's observing run.



www.skyandtelescope.com/community/skyblog/newsblog/238481431.html

[Deleted]

From your source:

So 2014 AA was too small to reach the ground intact. But it must have created one heck of a fireball! The skies over the Atlantic were relatively clear last night. Alas, a search of ship- and plane-tracking websites turned up no vessels in that area — it seems that no one was positioned to witness 2014 AA's demise.