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Small asteroid burns up in Earth's atmosphere
Posted: Sat, Jan 4, 2014, 9:41 AM ET (1441 GMT) The first asteroid astronomers discovered in 2014 likely burned up in the atmosphere over the Atlantic Ocean just hours after its discovery. The Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona spotted the asteroid, 2014 AA, early Wednesday, and determined it was an object 2 to 3 meters across on a possible impact trajectory. Analysis of potential trajectories of the asteroid narrowed down the impact site to an arc running from Central America to East Africa, and later analysis of data from infrasound stations, which can detect atmospheric perturbations caused by explosions, pinpointed the impact location to an area of the Atlantic Ocean just north of the Equator at about 11 pm EST Wednesday (0400 GMT Thursday). The location makes it unlikely the impact was observed by eyewitnesses, and the asteroid's small size means it did not reach the surface intact. 2014 AA is the second asteroid to be discovered within hours of hitting the Earth. Asteroid 2008 TC3, similar in size to 2014 AA, broke up over Sudan shortly after its discovery in October 2008, and scientists later recovered some meteorites from that impact.
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