A meteor exploded over the northeastern United States on Saturday (local time), NASA said, unleashing a TNT-equivalent blast of 300 tons that rattled the region with loud booms.
The boom was so powerful that it left windows rattling, buildings shaking and leaving people in panic across Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
NASA officials have confirmed that the meteor was natural material, not a satellite or space debris, and that it entered the atmosphere at 2:06 pm (local time).
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Here is all you need to know about the meteor crash:
- People reported a sudden bang that shook buildings in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. It was spotted by people from Delaware to Montreal with people either hearing the double boom or seeing the fireball. Police and other agencies reported several calls even as they scrambled to understand what caused a double boom.
- Several people across the Northeastern US reported seeing a fireball around 2 pm on Saturday. The meteor probably entered the atmosphere over the South Shore near Boston, NASA said.
- NASA said that the fireball was not associated with any “active meteor shower, but it was a natural object and not a re-entry of space debris or a satellite,” AFP reported.
- The energy released from the meteor, travelling at 120,000 kph (75,000 mph), was estimated to be equivalent to about 300 tons of TNT after it fragmented around 60 kilometers above the ground.
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- “It was definitely bigger than a normal fireball, about a yard wide,” American Meteor Society program monitor Robert Lunsford told Associated Press.
- Social media was full of videos from the New England area, with several videos capturing what sounded like two quick booms, with no fire, smoke or other visual causes.
- Meteors enter atmosphere at such high speeds, however, most of them are the size of a pebble or a grain of sand. Most meteors burn up harmlessly in the atmosphere, but larger meteors can survive to create fireballs and booming shock waves.
