Meteor Explodes Over Massachusetts

People -  A meteor has rocked the northeastern United States.  The fireball was detected over northeastern Massachusetts and southeastern New Hampshire at around 2:06 p.m. local time on Saturday, May 30, according to CBS News, ABC News and Reuters.  The meteor crashed through the Earth's atmosphere at a speed of 75,000 mph, creating a blast equivalent to 300 tons of TNT, the outlets reported, citing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

NASA Space Alerts wrote on X, “Eyewitnesses in New England and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's GOES-19 satellite reported a bright fireball on Saturday … accompanied by a loud noise. The meteor appears to have fragmented at an altitude of 40 miles over northeast MA and southeast NH. The energy released at breakup is estimated to be equivalent to about 300 tons of TNT, which accounts for the loud noise."

Satellite lightning data indicates that the meteor entered the atmosphere over the South Shore near Boston before spreading to multiple locations, stretching as far as Rhode Island, according to CBS News. 

The Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security received several residents accounts of the fireball with “an audible boom and ground tremors,” per ABC News. The Watertown Police also shared on Facebook that they received “numerous reports from residents of hearing a loud boom sound” over the eastern part of Massachusetts.