Meteor Booms Over US Northeast, Shakes Buildings

Scientists call this kind of event a bolide — a meteor that explodes in the atmosphere. The passage of this one was unusually well recorded. Weather radar showed a bright flash in an area where there were no thunderstorms, which is a typical sign of a bolide, according to meteorologist Danielle Noyes of 1 Degree Outside. Images from the GOES (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite) network, which also tracks lightning, captured the same flash above eastern Massachusetts. However, the National Weather Service said only NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration) can issue a final confirmation, which usually requires recovered debris or further trajectory analysis.

Lunsford said it was unlikely that any of the meteor reached the ground. "Most of them do burn up before they hit the ground," he noted. He added that anything left would probably have fallen into the Atlantic Ocean. The fireball was visible as far as Delaware and Montreal. Police and fire departments in Massachusetts and Rhode Island were flooded with calls from people who feared an industrial explosion, and they asked residents to stop phoning in.