At 2:06 p.m. Eastern Time on May 30, a high-speed meteor entered the atmosphere at approximately 120,000 kilometers per hour, breaking apart about 64 kilometers above the Massachusetts-New Hampshire border. NASA confirmed to ABC News that this so-called “fireball” released energy equivalent to roughly 300 tons of TNT upon disintegration, with residents across the Eastern U.S. reporting a series of explosions-like booms, describing windows rattling violently and houses shaking noticeably. Multiple videos of two consecutive loud sounds quickly appeared on social media.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) stated that the shaking felt by residents was not an earthquake but rather the sonic boom effect from the meteor’s high-altitude explosion. Massachusetts public safety officials said they received numerous reports but found no public safety threat. NOAA’s GOES-19 weather satellite also detected a flash signal over the offshore waters of Massachusetts that coincided with the event. NASA added that the meteor was not part of any known meteor shower, nor was it a satellite or space debris, but a natural celestial object from space. The American Meteor Society received hundreds of sighting reports from the Eastern U.S. and parts of Canada, indicating the fireball was visible across a range of several hundred kilometers.