The disintegration of a meteor about 1 meter wide, entering the Earth's atmosphere at extremely high speed, scared thousands of residents in the northeastern part of the US.
The space object entered the atmosphere at 2:06 p.m. local time on Saturday afternoon. The meteor was traveling at an estimated 120,700 km/h. Satellite data from NOAA shows that the object entered the South Shore near Boston.
The body fragmented about 40 miles (64 km) above the border between northeastern Massachusetts and southeastern New Hampshire.
The energy released in the breakup was equivalent to about 300 tons of TNT. Residents in a wide area reported two rapid, consecutive explosions. The sound and subsequent shockwave were felt from Delaware to Montreal, Canada.
Hundreds of people reported shaking buildings and shaken homes to the U.S. Geological Survey. However, seismographs did not register an earthquake, proving that the shaking was purely acoustic (sound wave).
The local emergency management agency confirmed that there were no injuries or serious damage to infrastructure.