Rich Kowalski, a Tucson-based astronomer, should be earning a goddamned good paycheck. The guy just spotted–for the second time–a near-Earth asteroid before it became on on-Earth asteroid. The Arizona Daily Star reports that 2014 AA was only the size of a car and it burned out harmlessly in the atmosphere on Jan. 1. Most asteroids are about that size and burn up unnoticed, but Tim Swindle, who heads the lab where Kowalski does his work, says the work of astronomers like Kowalski is “to find the ones that may be dangerous” and that the “trick is to find them before they find us.” Looks like that may be possible, after all. Hopefully soon. [AZStarnet.com]