Meteor Crashing Towards Earth Explodes Over The US With Blast Equivalent To 300 Tons Of TNT

Washington: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) confirmed a meteor explosion in the Earth’s atmosphere in the late hours of Saturday, May 30, at 11:36 PM IST. Citing satellite imagery and eyewitness accounts, the agency reported a bright fireball in the sky accompanied by a loud noise.

It said that the meteor appeared to have fragmented at an altitude of 40 miles (64.37 km) over the northeastern regions of the United States. The agency added that the energy released at the meteor breakup was about the same as 300 tons of TNT. This caused the loud noise heard over the region.

“Eyewitnesses in New England and NOAA’s GOES-19 satellite reported a bright fireball on Saturday, May 30, at 2:06 p.m EDT, accompanied by a loud noise. The meteor appears to have fragmented at an altitude of 40 miles over northeast MA and southeast NH. The energy released at breakup is estimated to be equivalent to about 300 tons of TNT, which accounts for the loud noise,” NASA said in a post on X, adding that the eyewitness accounts were supplied by the American Meteor Society.

According to the Agence-France Press (AFP), area residents were alarmed by the unexpected loud booms, with social media users reporting they were so powerful that houses were shaking.

The US space agency’s deputy news chief Jennifer Dooren told the news agency in a statement, “This fireball was not associated with any currently active meteor shower, but it was a natural object and not a re-entry of space debris or a satellite.”

The meteor was travelling at 75,000 mph (more than 120,000 kph) at an altitude of 40 miles when it broke apart, Dooren said.

Back in 2013, a similar incident occurred when a fireball lit up the skies over Chelyabinsk, Russia. The house‑sized meteor exploded 14 miles (22.5 km) above the ground, releasing energy equal to 440,000 tons of TNT, NASA reported. The blast shattered windows across 200 square miles (518 square kilometres) and left more than 1,600 people injured, most from flying glass.