NASA confirmed Monday that a massive meteor fireball moving at a speed of 42,000 miles per hour entered Earth’s atmosphere over New England and broke apart before crashing.
The earthshaking event occurred Saturday yet most who heard a large boom had no firm idea of its origin until NASA’s confirmation of what it was.
The boom rattled homes and startled residents across Massachusetts on Saturday afternoon.
The meteor was 40 miles above northeastern Massachusetts and southeastern New Hampshire at 2:06 p.m. when it broke the sound barrier, scientists said Sunday.
NASA estimated the five-foot meteor weighed roughly 11,000 pounds.
The space agency estimated the energy released at breakup was equivalent to about 300 tons of TNT, accounting for the loud noise reported across the region, according to GVWire.com.
Meteors travel faster than the speed of sound, creating pressure waves as they burn and break apart in the atmosphere, which can produce a loud sonic boom that may be heard on the ground.
Tyler Jankoski, meteorologist at WPTZ-TV, posted video shot by Ashton Albright of Jeffersonville, Vermont of Saturday’s meteor over Smuggler’s Notch, Vermont.
“The meteor was spotted as far away as Canada and appeared on several radar scans,” Jankoski said. “Based on an extensive analysis of all available radar data, if any debris reached the ground, it would be in Cape Cod Bay, north of Barnstable and west of Eastham.”
The meteor “traveled through the atmosphere from northwest to southeast for 26 miles before breaking up at an altitude of 31 miles and producing a meteorite fall into Cape Cod Bay,” NASA said.
