5-Meter-Asteroid Hits Earth, Burns Up in Atmosphere

5-Meter-Asteroid Hits Earth, Burns Up in Atmosphere
http://en.ria.ru/science/20140103/186189351/5-Meter-Asteroid-Hits-Earth-Burns-Up-in-Atmosphere.html



MOSCOW, January 3 (RIA Novosti) – A small asteroid hit Earth just hours after it was first discovered, astronomers said, but likely burned up in the planet’s atmosphere.

The five-meter-wide (16-foot) object, which astronomers named 2014 AA, “almost certainly hit the Earth’s atmosphere” on Thursday morning, scientists at the International Astronomer Union’s Minor Planet Center said.

The asteroid entered the Earth’s atmosphere over the Atlantic Ocean somewhere between Central America and East Africa, most likely off the coast of West Africa, at about 2:30 a.m. Universal Time (8:30 a.m. Moscow time), according to calculations by dynamicist Stephen Chesley.