Overview
- The meteor entered the atmosphere on Saturday, May 30, producing a bright daytime fireball and a double sonic boom that was widely heard and felt across eastern Massachusetts and neighboring states.
- NASA said the object fragmented at roughly 40 miles altitude while traveling about 75,000 miles per hour and released energy estimated at about 300 tons of TNT when it broke up.
- NOAA’s GOES‑19 Geostationary Lightning Mapper recorded an anomalous flash at the same time that independent videos and dozens of reports to the American Meteor Society corroborated the bolide signature.
- The U.S. Geological Survey detected no earthquake and characterized the sensation of shaking as a linear atmospheric sonic boom, and state officials reported no injuries or structural damage tied to the event.
- Analysts say small meteorite fragments likely fell into the middle of Cape Cod Bay where recovery is unlikely, and the episode highlights how satellites and public sighting networks help scientists reconstruct daytime fireballs.