Meteor Explodes Over New England With Force of 300 Tons of TNT, Shaking Homes and Flooding Police With Calls

The explosion

A meteor hurtling toward Earth disintegrated over the northeastern United States on Saturday afternoon, creating a fireball and a series of deafening booms that resonated across New England. The celestial body fragmented over the border between northeastern Massachusetts and southeastern New Hampshire at 2:06 p.m. local time (6:06 p.m. GMT), according to a statement from NASA deputy press secretary Jennifer Dooren sent to AFP.

This fireball was not associated with any currently active meteor shower; it was a natural object and not the re-entry of space debris or a satellite.

The meteor was traveling at more than 120,000 kilometers per hour at an altitude of roughly 64 kilometers (40 miles) when it burst apart. Experts cited in media reports estimated the object's diameter at just under one meter, and it is highly likely that no fragments reached the Earth's surface — which would have made it a meteorite.

Residents react

Residents across multiple states reported feeling their homes shake and hearing loud bangs that rattled windows. Social media users described the detonations as powerful enough to make houses sway. Police stations in the region were inundated with phone calls on Saturday evening as authorities scrambled to identify the cause of the disturbances.

The U.S. Earthquake Watch initially examined possible seismic activity but found none. Experts attributed the shaking to the pressure wave from the explosion. The American Meteor Society classified the event as an unusually bright fireball, and NOAA weather satellites reportedly captured the incident from space.

Comparison to Chelyabinsk

Despite the dramatic local impact, the event was far smaller than the famous Chelyabinsk meteor that exploded over Russia in 2013. That fireball released energy equivalent to approximately 440,000 tons of TNT, according to NASA, and injured more than 1,600 people through its pressure wave. In the current case, no injuries or significant damage were initially reported, though the explosion sparked widespread confusion and numerous emergency calls throughout New England.

Official confirmation

NASA confirmed the object was a natural meteor and ruled out any connection to space debris or a satellite re-entry. The agency noted that the meteor was not linked to any currently active meteor shower. The energy released in the fragmentation — estimated at about 300 tons of TNT — explained the deafening detonations heard across the region.