Jennifer Dooren, NASA's deputy director of intelligence, told AFP that the fireball broke up in the sky over northeastern Massachusetts and southeastern New Hampshire at 2:06 p.m. local time (9:06 p.m. GMT).
“This fireball is unrelated to any currently active meteor shower. It is a completely natural object; there is no space debris or satellite entering the atmosphere. The energy released during the decay is estimated to be around 300 tons of TNT, which explains the violent explosion sounds heard,” Dooren said. he said.
Dooren stated that the meteorite was traveling at a speed of more than 120,000 kilometers per hour when it entered the atmosphere and that the explosion occurred at an altitude of about 64 kilometers (40 miles).
While residents in the area panicked due to sudden loud noises, social media users reported that the explosion was powerful enough to shake houses.
It was reminiscent of the Chelyabinsk incident
This development was reminiscent of the meteorite that exploded over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk in 2013.
According to NASA, the meteorite, which was the size of a house at the time, broke 22 kilometers (14 miles) above the ground and released enormous energy of about 440,000 tons of TNT.
This explosion in Russia caused windows to break across an area of 518 square kilometers and injured more than 1,600 people, most of them from shattered glass.
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