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Three-Foot Meteor Airburst Seen and Heard Over Eastern Massachusetts
A roughly three-foot-wide meteor entered the atmosphere near the Massachusetts-New Hampshire border on May 30 and disintegrated over the ocean, generating a bright daytime fireball and a double sonic boom heard from Delaware to Montreal.
May 30, 4:50 PM·1m read6 sources
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A meteor roughly three feet wide exploded over eastern Massachusetts on Saturday afternoon, producing a bright daytime fireball and a double sonic boom that rattled homes from Delaware to Montreal. m. near the Massachusetts-New Hampshire border north of Boston before disintegrating over the ocean.
Residents across multiple states described hearing two rapid booms followed by shaking. Several videos posted on X captured the sound without visible fire or smoke. Robert Lunsford, Fireball Program Monitor at the American Meteor Society, said the fireball was larger than typical.
Agency seismographs recorded no geological event, confirming the shaking resulted from the meteor. Lunsford said it is unlikely any fragment reached land. "We would need more information about the trajectory, the speed and other aspects to know for sure if it hit the ground, but if it didn't burn up, then it would have landed in the ocean," Lunsford said.
Most meteors burn up before reaching the surface, he added.
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Dramatic celestial eventRoutine meteor airburst
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CorroborationLimited · 6 sources
