By Susan Duclos
The day after 2014 AA was discovered, named that because it is the first one found for 2014, it hit Earth’s atmosphere and while in relative terms it was small, described as “equivalent to the explosive power of 500 to 1,000 tons of TNT — which, though powerful in human terms, implies the object was no bigger than a small car,” by Peter Brown from University of Western Ontario.
It is believed it burned up over the Atlantic between Central America and Western Africa, but according to a report by SkyandTelescope.com, no one was positioned to see what they say should have been “one heck of a fireball!”
Let’s cut Gray some slack and instead give him, Chesley, and Gareth Williams at the MPC a collective pat on the back. All three were able to conclude — based on just seven images taken within 3 minutes — not only that 2014 AA was going to strike Earth, but also roughly where and when. Mad props for that impressive number-crunching!
The article points out that this asteroid hit just 25 hours after was initially sighted, had it been bigger, had it been aimed at a populated area, frankly, not a thing could have been done to pinpoint it’s exact landing site nor prepare and protect the people in it’s path.
Read more at Sky & Telescope, titled “Small Asteroid 2014 AA Hits Earth.”
EarthSky also discusses this 2014 AA asteroid and concludes “No harm done. But the event underscores the need to watch out for near-Earth asteroids.”
The first video below is Paul Begley discussing this asteroid that just hit.
[UPDATE] New information in the video below, the asteroid entered Earth’s atmosphere over the Atlantic, broke up there, then the fragments traveled over Venezuela and ended up landing in the Pacific.
Which brings us to the video below by Nania9, who for over a month as been predicting a huge asteroid will hit the Atlantic and devastate the eastern US, and who claims in her title “Asteroid Strike: WHERE & WHEN- Clues Indicate 2014! MUST SEE!!!”
