A meteor hurtling toward Earth’s atmosphere exploded over the northeastern United States, causing a loud double boom that shook buildings in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, according to reports on Saturday.

The phenomenon released energy equivalent to about 300 tonnes of TNT, accounting for the loud noise, the US space agency, NASA, wrote in a statement posted on X.

What do we know?

The meteor, measuring about 3 feet (nearly 1 metre) wide, entered the atmosphere around the New Hampshire border with Massachusetts, north of Boston, the Associated Press cited the American Meteor Society as saying.

The fireball fragmented over northeastern Massachusetts and southeastern New Hampshire at 2:06pm (6:06pm UTC), NASA deputy news chief Jennifer Dooren told news agency AFP.

She added that the meteor was traveling at 75,000 miles per hour (more than 120,000km per hour) when it broke apart at an altitude of 40 miles (64km) over the area.

“This fireball was not associated with any currently active meteor shower, but it was a natural object and not a re-entry of space debris or a satellite,” Dooren said in her statement.

Loud noise alarms people

Residents in the region were left baffled by the echoing boom.

Some people took to social media to report that their houses shook from the noise.

In some videos circulating online, what sounded like two quick booms could be heard, with no sign of fire, smoke or any visible causes for the noise.

DW