Meteor explodes over US with blast equivalent to 300 tonnes of TNT

<p>A meteor crashing toward Earth exploded over the northeastern United States on Saturday, Nasa said, setting off booms that echoed over the region with a blast equivalent to 300 tonnes of TNT.</p> <p>The fireball broke up over northeastern Massachusetts and southeastern New Hampshire at 2:06pm (11:06pm PKT), the US space agency’s deputy news chief Jennifer Dooren told <em>AFP</em> in a statement.</p> <figure class='media w-full w-full media-- media--uneven media--stretch' data-original-src='https://x.com/NASASpaceAlerts/status/2060854183155106193'> <div class='media__item media__item--twitter '><span> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"> <a href="https://twitter.com/NASASpaceAlerts/status/2060854183155106193"></a> </blockquote> </span></div> </figure> <p>“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,” she said.</p> <p>“The energy released at breakup is estimated to be equivalent to about 300 tonnes of TNT, which accounts for the loud booms.”</p> <figure class='media w-full w-full media-- media--uneven media--stretch' data-original-src='https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjN2NV59kMQ'> <div class='media__item media__item--youtube '><iframe src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/wjN2NV59kMQ?enablejsapi=1&controls=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0' loading='lazy' allowfullscreen='' frameborder='0' scrolling='no' width='100%' height='100%'></iframe></div> </figure> <p>The meteor was travelling at 75,000 mph (more than 120,000 kph) at an altitude of 40 miles when it broke apart, Dooren said.</p> <p>Area residents were alarmed by the unexpected loud booms, with social media users reporting they were so powerful that houses were shaking.</p> <p><a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/786383/meteor-hits-russia-about-1000-injured">In 2013</a>, a fireball streaked above Chelyabinsk, Russia. The house-sized space rock blew apart 14 miles above the ground, releasing a blast equivalent to 440,000 tonnes of TNT, Nasa said.</p> <p>The explosion blew out windows over 200 square miles (518 square kilometres), injuring more than 1,600 people, mostly due to broken glass.</p>