2014 AA asteroid was discovered January 1, 2014 between 7 and 8 am Polish time. It was discovered by Richard A. Smith of Mt Lemmon Survey. On the basis of seven observations, astronomers have estimated the size of the object to from 1.7 to 3.8 meters and qualified it to a group of NEOs (ang. Near Earth Objects). This is a group of asteroids flying extremely close to Earth. 2014 AA had to pass our planet at a distance of 0.02 LD (ang. LD - Lunar Distance - the average distance from the Earth-Moon), which is approx. 7600 km.
So a small number of observations was fraught with considerable error in this case, the astronomers were wrong. Trying to re-observe the asteroid in 24 hours after the discovery was a fiasco. Astronomers Bill Gray of the Minor Planet Center and Steve Chesley of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory calculated that the space rock probably broke into the Earth's atmosphere in the area between Central America and the east coast of Africa. As the most likely point of entry into the Earth's atmosphere are estimated area of several hundred kilometers to the west of the west coast of Africa. There is currently no information about the asteroid observation flight.
Discovery 2014 AA before its intrusion into the atmosphere is the second such case in history. Previously, this has been only in the case of a small asteroid 2008 TC3, which burned down over the Earth in 2008. Her flight over Africa have observed two pilots of the Boeing 747 belonging to KLM. This seemingly minor event made it returned to the question of how we are able to locate astronomical objects such? What if one day the earth will not see any apparatus asteroids ?!
