This past Saturday afternoon, residents across Massachusetts and much of New England were left startled when a meteor exploded high in the atmosphere, creating a loud sonic boom that rattled homes and shook windows. The unexpected blast was heard and felt by thousands of people, leaving many confused as to what it was caused by.
At first, people stretching from Delaware to Montreal called into 9-1-1 and reported the boom, believing that an earthquake appeared or even more closely, a Peabody house explosion. Officials later confirmed that the noise had been the meteor and that the shaking was caused by the meteor’s shock wave.
According to NASA, the meteor was traveling at about 75,000 miles per hour before it burst apart about 40 miles above Massachusetts, near Cape Cod, dropping any leftover debris into the ocean. The explosion released energy equivalent to roughly 300 tons of TNT, producing a bright fireball visible across several states.
Scientists believe most of the meteor burned up in the atmosphere when it exploded. The rare event gained widespread attention across multiple social media platforms, and gave us all a reminder of the powerful natural objects that constantly enter earth’s atmosphere every day.
