Massive boom over northeastern US was a meteor explosion as powerful as 300 tons of TNT, NASA confirms

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The sound that echoed through the northeastern United States last week was not a thunderclap or an earthquake, but rather a sonic boom caused by a meteor crashing into Earth's atmosphere.

According to NASA officials, the meteor fragmented at an altitude of 40 miles over northeast Massachusetts and southeast New Hampshire. The energy released at breakup is estimated to be equivalent to about 300 tons of TNT, which accounts for the loud noise.

The American Meteor Society confirmed that multiple eyewitness reports were made by people in the affected area, while images from the GOES-19 satellite captured the meteor's flash. The meteoroid broke apart and entered Earth's atmosphere at an altitude of approximately 40 miles, creating a sonic boom that was audible across the region.

NASA notes that meteors are often associated with meteor showers or annual clusters of visible meteors. However, in this case, it was not one of those events, according to NASA officials. The GOES-19 geostationary lightning mapper captured the meteor's flash and added images of the event to its social media post.

The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency received reports of an "audible boom" as well as shaking in the state's eastern area. Meanwhile, video footage shared by the American Meteor Society shows the fireball streaking through the daytime sky as its boom can be heard.

While meteorites from this fall landed in water, with a water depth of 34 meters (100 feet), NASA officials noted that most meteorites are strongly attracted to a magnet and these ones are within reach of a 100-foot length of rope dangled off of a boat. The natural meteors originate from extraterrestrial rock sources: space rocks about to enter our atmosphere are meteoroids, one streaking through is a meteor, and one that has arrived on the ground is called a meteorite.

As meteorites originate from extraterrestrial rock sources, they can be potentially threatening objects originating from space. Elizabeth HowellContributing Writer, Ph.D., was a staff writer in the spaceflight channel between 2022 and 2024 specializing in Canadian space news.

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