2014 AA
2014 AA imaged by the Catalina Sky Survey in January 2014. The asteroid was around one lunar distance from Earth at that time. | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Richard Kowalski Mount Lemmon Survey (G96) |
| Discovery date | 1 January 2014 |
| Designations | |
| 2014 AA | |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch 1 January 2014 (JD 2456658.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 9 | |
| Observation arc | ~70 minutes |
| Aphelion | 1.4080 AU (210.63 Gm) (Q) |
| Perihelion | 0.9163 AU (137.08 Gm) (q) |
| 1.1623 AU (173.88 Gm) (a) | |
| Eccentricity | 0.2116 (e) |
| 1.25 yr (457.26 d) | |
| 324.1460° (M) | |
| 0° 47m 14.244s / day (n) | |
| Inclination | 1.4156° (i) |
| 101.6086° (Ω) | |
| 15 February 2014 (would have been) | |
| 52.3393° (ω) | |
| Earth MOID | 4.54412×10−7 AU (67.9791 km) |
| Jupiter MOID | 3.58092 AU (535.698 Gm) |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | ~3 meters (10 ft) |
| Mass | ~4×104 kg (assumed) |
| 30.9 | |
2014 AA was a small Apollo near-Earth asteroid roughly 2–4 meters in diameter that struck Earth on 2 January 2014. It was discovered on 1 January 2014 by Richard Kowalski at the Mount Lemmon Survey at an apparent magnitude of 19 using a 1.52-meter (60 in) reflecting telescope at Mount Lemmon Observatory. 2014 AA was only observed over a short observation arc of about 70 minutes, and entered Earth's atmosphere about 21 hours after discovery. Nonetheless, it remains one of only a few asteroids observed before impact (see Asteroid impact prediction).