Meteor 'heavy as an elephant' explodes over New England

When the double boom rang out in New England over the weekend, shaking homes and sending pets fleeing, questions started flooding social media.

NASA let people know over the weekend that the cause of the commotion was a meteor, but on Monday they revealed even more stunning details.

The fireball was as heavy as an elephant, 5 feet wide and was going 42,000 mph when it entered Earth’s atmosphere. It broke up about 40 miles above New England on Saturday and the energy released was equivalent to about 230 tons of TNT, the agency estimated.

NASA revealed the jaw-dropping details in a social media post Monday along with other statistics.

The meteor was made up of natural material — not a satellite or space debris — and traveled through the atmosphere for about 26 miles before falling into Cape Cod Bay.

The agency was quick to point out that meteors are very common, but typically don’t have as big of an audience as this one.

“They often occur over the ocean or unpopulated areas with no witnesses, or during the daytime, making them difficult to spot,” according to NASA.

Several people filed reports with the U.S. Geological Survey, registering the shaking they felt with the National Earthquake Information Center.

The American Meteor Society received dozens of reports from Delaware to Montreal with people either hearing the double boom, feeling the ground shake or seeing the fireball.


(Map: NASA)