NASA: Meteor over earth ‘rattled buildings’
A file photo of a meteor (Getty Images)
Testing widget old system
(NEXSTAR) — “A nice little firework, courtesy of Mother Nature,” said NASA of a meteor that streaked across New England skies Monday night, shaking earthbound buildings along the way.
Eyewitnesses reported seeing the fireball in the northeast U.S. around 5:38 pm ET.
According to NASA, the meteor produced a pressure wave that “rattled buildings and generated the sound heard by those near the trajectory.”
The fireball first appeared at a height of 52 miles over northern Vermont before streaking at 47,000 mph across the northeast. The meteor burned up 33 miles above Beach Hill in Orleans County, Vermont.
Per NASA, the fireball fragmented with the energy equivalent of 440 pounds of TNT.
The agency projected that the space object was about 10 pounds and six inches in diameter.
Meteors are called fireballs when they are brighter than the planet Venus.
NASA monitors fireballs through its All Sky Fireball Network, which consist of 17 specialized cameras across the country.
