Reports of an explosion from people across New England on Saturday afternoon sent police agencies and others scrambling to understand what caused a double boom that shook buildings in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
The American Meteor Society said that the booms people heard were actually caused by a meteor about 3 feet wide entering the atmosphere around the New Hampshire border with Massachusetts, north of Boston.
NASA officials confirmed that the meteor was natural material, not a satellite or space debris, and that it entered the atmosphere at 2:06 p.m.
American Meteor Society program monitor Robert Lunsford said the group received dozens of reports from Delaware to Montreal with people either hearing the double boom, feeling the ground shake or seeing the fireball, which he said looked like a shooting star in the daytime sky.
“It was definitely bigger than a normal fireball, about a yard wide,” he said.
NASA spokesperson Allard Beutel said the meteor was travelling at about 75,000 mph and likely fragmented about 40 miles above the ground above northeast Massachusetts and southeast New Hampshire. The agency estimated that the energy released when it broke up was equivalent to about 300 tons of TNT, accounting for the loud booms.
Dashcam video from a driver in upstate New York captured the meteor on camera Saturday afternoon, while NASA says it exploded right over the middle of Cape Cod Bay.
NASA said the daytime bolide produced a meteorite fall right in the middle of Cape Cod Bay. Its viewership over a wide area of the northeast was limited by weather, however, the agency received more than 71 reports about a fireball seen over Massachusetts, Delaware, Maryland, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Ontario and Quebec, Canada.
NBC10 Boston obtained dashcam video from Daniel Wilcox, who was driving in Rome, New York, that showed it clearly.
While all the meteorites from this fall landed in water, according to NASA, the water depth at the fall site is 100 feet. Most meteorites are strongly attracted to a magnet, however, the agency noted, suggesting that these ones are within reach of a very long rope dangled off of a boat.
NBC10 Boston meteorologist Pamela Gardner said it’s unlikely any fragments that scattered in the ocean water across Cape Cod Bay would be found. Wave heights during the storm were 5-10 feet, and meteorites are denser than seawater, meaning they likely sank, and the salt would degrade them fast.
The U.S. Coast Guard said it is not planning any trips to Cape Cod Bay to try and retrieve the meteor or any remaining pieces of it.
The American Meteor Society confirmed that the booms heard about 2:30 p.m. were caused by a meteor about 3 feet wide entering the atmosphere around the New Hampshire border with Massachusetts, north of Boston.
People in a handful of states posted on social media about feeling the buildings they were in shaking. Several videos captured what sounded like two quick booms, with no fire, smoke or other visual causes.
The Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security addressed the incident on social media, saying that state public safety officials had received reports of an audible boom and ground tremors in the eastern part of the state.
“Although we do not yet know the cause, there are no known emergency police or fire requests connected to these reports and we do not believe there is any public safety threat,” the post on X read. “We remain in contact with our local, state, and federal partners to monitor any impact and understand the cause when it becomes available.”
Police and fire departments across the region also took to social media saying they had received numerous reports from concerned residents who heard the loud boom sound, with no initial confirmation of what it was.
“It was heard over the eastern part of the state. Unknown origin no reports of hazards at this time,” Watertown police said on Facebook.
“The Boom: No reports of any damage or local incident as of yet. Earthquake maybe,” Coventry, Rhode Island, police said.
Police in Cambridge said they were aware of reports and concerns over the loud boom heard.
“At this time, it appears the noise was heard and felt across Eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. However, we are unaware of any specific issues or incidents originating in Cambridge,” police wrote on Facebook.
NBC10 Boston’s Facebook followers reported hearing it from Bedford, Blackstone, Westport, Framingham, Georgetown, Attleborough, and Cape Cod. Several said they both heard and felt whatever it was.
Some people thought trees fell on their houses, saying their homes shook. Others said their dogs were going wild, and they watched for lightning but never saw any. Many said that it scared them, that they’d never heard anything like it.
Several people also filed reports with the U.S. Geological Survey, registering the shaking they felt with the National Earthquake Information Center, agency spokesman Steve Sobie confirmed Saturday.
The agency opened an event page, based on the number of “Did you feel it?” reports it received on its website. But he said there was no event registered on the agency’s seismographs, meaning the shaking was not due to an earthquake. The USGS has said this event was a widely felt sonic boom from a suspected bolide, or a large meteor.
Dr. John Ebel, of Boston College’s Weston Observatory, says we didn’t see the meteor here in Massachusetts because of the day’s clouds.
“If it had come through with clear skies, my guess is even during the day people would have seen a streak of light across the sky,” Ebel said. “The Earth is always giving us interesting points. Always something that makes my life really kind of fun when it happens.”