
Asteroid 2014 AA: Harmless impact over Atlantic Ocean last night - mrfusion
http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2014/01/02/asteroid_2014_aa_harmless_impact_over_atlantic_ocean_last_night.html
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Zikes
From what I can tell from the text of the article, what happened was 2014 AA
impacted the atmosphere and burned up on entry, but did not hit land or water.

I bring this up because from what I can gather "impact" to astronomers means
"hits the atmosphere" while "impact" to a lay person means "hits ground or
water".

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splat
True, but meteors that burn up on entry can still cause damage -- see the
Chelyabinsk meteor last year. It exploded in the atmosphere but still
shattered windows and damaged thousands of buildings in the nearby town. Few
would have survived if it had happened directly over the town.

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pavel_lishin
Or the Tunguska impact of 1908.

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gmuslera
Only 2-4 meters wide, and falling into the ocean without (known yet)
consequences. But was found practically when it hit us, if it were going to a
city it would had no warning, and probably lots of victims.

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TrainedMonkey
From what I understood this is a meteor, which means it burned up in
atmosphere. Meanwhile, meteorite is an achievement awarded a space rock that
actually hits the ground/water.

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zobzu
"It is virtually certain"

so hum its not certain,i guess. people need to learn how to write stuff that
makes sense.

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elboru
How is this different from meteors (shooting stars)? size?

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InclinedPlane
Word choice, nothing more.

Asteroids that enter Earth's atmosphere become meteors, meteor fragments that
land on the surface become meteorites.

