Meteor fireball streaks across US skies, sonic booms follow

meteor fireball – A fiery object disintegrating off the coast of Boston around 2 p.m. EDT on May 30 was followed by reports of multiple sonic booms across eastern Massachusetts. Separate fireball sightings earlier in April and a wide run of meteors in March kept witnesses acros

A bright, fiery object broke apart off the southern coast of Massachusetts and then the sound arrived—rolling across towns and cities in eastern Massachusetts like something mechanical, not weather.

Eric Fisher. chief meteorologist with CBS News’ Boston affiliate WBZ-TV. reported that the meteor fell off the coast of Boston around 2 p.m. EDT on May 30. A report filed with the American Meteor Society described the event as “definitely not lighting. ” with the object “disintegrated off the southern coast of Massachusetts.” Witnesses said they heard the resulting sounds in “numerous cities/towns across eastern MA. ” and nearly 50 reports were filed to the society with sightings spanning eight states and Canada.

The same document framed what people heard as unmistakable: the noise from the object “sounded like a sonic boom” rather than thunder. Two more booms reportedly followed, and the report added that it was “then there was silence.”

Far from the Massachusetts coast, a second American Meteor Society report came from a couple driving along a highway a few hundred miles away in New York, underscoring how widely the sound traveled even when the light display was tied to a specific slice of the sky.

Across the calendar, the May 30 event landed in a longer stretch of heightened meteor watching. On April 7. another meteor streaked across the sky above parts of the eastern United States for over 100 miles. with multiple cities and states reporting the fireball. NASA said the meteor passed over the northeastern part of the country around 2:34 p.m. ET and described it as a fireball.

People in Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania reported seeing the fireball around that time to the American Meteor Society.

Those sightings sit within a pattern: NASA and other researchers describe these events as asteroids or other space rocks disintegrating as they pass through Earth’s atmosphere. The April 7 meteor was the latest in a series of atmospheric breakups that have been seen from the ground as objects burn up and flare—often appearing as streaks. or brighter bursts. depending on how the material enters the air.

More recently, fireballs were also reported in other parts of the country, including on the West Coast, in the Midwest and in Texas.

March saw an especially busy stretch of meteor activity, with different events reported in California, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, Texas, Ohio, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and the District of Columbia, along with Ontario, Canada.

A meteor is not the same thing as a comet or an asteroid. even though all three begin as space objects. According to NASA. an asteroid is typically a small. rocky object often found in orbit of Mars and Jupiter. while a comet is made of ice and dust. A meteor is the result of a space rock entering Earth’s atmosphere. Often called “shooting stars,” meteors come from meteoroids—small pieces, sometimes pebble-sized, that break off from asteroids or comets. As meteoroids hit Earth’s atmosphere at high speeds, they burn up, creating the streak of light people see.

For witnesses, the key point is how quickly the sky can change—and how long the aftermath can last. In Massachusetts, the May 30 reports captured that split second between light and sound: disintegration off the coast at around 2 p.m., followed by a sequence of booms, and then silence.

meteor fireball sonic boom American Meteor Society WBZ-TV NASA May 30 meteor April 7 fireball shooting stars