Exploded meteor: Fireball over Boston shakes houses
A meteor exploded over the US East Coast over the weekend, startling people. The incident was even recorded by a satellite.
(Image: NOAA)
A meteor exploded over the US metropolis of Boston over the weekend with such force that the resulting boom could be heard in several US states. This is according to reports from US authorities and various videos from people on which the boom was recorded.
The geological survey USGS assured afterward that the loud noise was the sonic boom of the celestial body. It was recorded by seismographic sensors. An attached map shows that the explosion occurred on the northern edge of Boston. It was even recorded by a satellite.
Observed over a large area
According to consistent information from various sources, the explosion occurred shortly after 2 p.m. local time (8 p.m. CEST) over New England. Eyewitness reports have been compiled by the American Meteor Society from numerous states, some even from Canada. There are also direct video recordings. According to NASA, the meteor likely exploded at an altitude of about 64 km. The energy released corresponds to 300 tons of TNT. A NASA spokeswoman told the news agency AFP that the celestial body was traveling at about 120,000 km/h when it entered the Earth's atmosphere. Some people on site reported that their houses had shaken, writes The Guardian.
Videos by heise
This time, however, the explosion was recorded not only by several of the now ubiquitous cameras on the ground, but also from space: The US atmospheric agency NOAA has combined several recordings from the Earth observation satellite GOES-19 to create a video, which shows the explosion slightly east of Boston over the Atlantic. GOES-19 is the agency's most advanced weather satellite. It was launched in the summer of 2024 and delivers particularly high-resolution data in rapid succession. A year ago, it was already able to photograph a fireball from space during its work. So the one from Boston is unlikely to be the last.
According to NASA, a remnant of the meteor may have landed in Cape Cod Bay, but confirmation is still pending.
(mho)
