A meteor about 3 feet wide entered Earth’s atmosphere near the Massachusetts/New Hampshire state line on Saturday afternoon, causing a loud boom. The American Meteor Society reports that it is unlikely the meteor hit the ground, as it broke apart before reaching the surface.
NASA confirmed the sighting of a fireball meteor at 2:06 p.m. EDT. It travelled at approximately 75,000 mph and exploded at an altitude of 40 miles above northeast Massachusetts and southeast New Hampshire. This fireball is not linked to any active meteor shower; it was a natural object and not space debris. The explosion released energy similar to 300 tons of TNT, which created the loud noise heard across the region.
Local residents reported their houses shaking after the boom. The NOAA’s GOES satellite detected a significant flash in Massachusetts Bay, likely caused by the meteor’s explosion.
Most meteors are usually tiny, like grains of sand, and are often silent during meteor showers. However, this meteor was much larger. A meteor becomes a meteorite if it strikes the Earth’s surface, but it seems this one disintegrated in the atmosphere without making contact.
