Twin explosions, equivalent to 300 tons of TNT: Everything you need to know about the meteor explosion over Massachusetts
NASA said a meteor exploded over the northeastern United States on Saturday (local time), releasing an explosion equivalent to 300 tons of TNT and causing a huge roar in the area.
The explosion was so powerful that windows rattled, buildings shook, and people in Massachusetts and New Hampshire panicked.
NASA officials have confirmed that the meteor was a natural material, not a satellite or space debris, and entered the atmosphere at 2:06 pm local time.
Also read: Boston meteor explosion latest: Experts reveal what happened in Massachusetts. New bolide news
Here’s everything you need to know about the meteor crash:
- Sudden shaking of buildings was reported in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. It was spotted by people from Delaware to Montreal, who either heard a double explosion or saw a fireball. Police and other agencies received several calls as they scrambled to understand the cause of the double boom.
- Some people in the northeastern United States reported seeing the fireball around 2 p.m. Saturday. NASA said the meteor may have entered the atmosphere on the South Shore near Boston.
- NASA said the fireball was not related to any “active meteor shower, but it was a natural object and not the re-entry of space debris or satellites,” according to AFP.
- The meteor, traveling at 120,000 km/h (75,000 mph), was estimated to be equivalent to about 300 tons of TNT after fragmenting about 60 kilometers above the ground.
Also read: Boston meteor explosion: Where did the bolide explode today? New Cape Cod Bay visuals appear
- “It was definitely larger than a normal fireball, about a yard across,” American Meteor Society project director Robert Lunsford told The Associated Press.
- Social media was flooded with videos from across New England, several of which captured what sounded like two rapid explosions with no fire, smoke or other visual cause.
- Meteors enter the atmosphere at such high speeds, but most of them are only the size of pebbles or grains of sand. Most meteors burn harmlessly in the atmosphere, but larger meteors can survive and create fireballs and roaring shockwaves.
