According to NASA, loud booms heard earlier this week were reportedly caused by a daylight fireball across New York City and New Jersey, which resulted in the suggestion of a meteor that entered the atmosphere traveling at 38,000 mph.
On Tuesday morning, July 16, a meteor crashed through the Earth’s atmosphere, resulting in extraordinarily loud booms that resounded over several portions of NYC and NJ.
Initial preliminary estimates suggested that at around 11:17 a.m., the meteor passed over the Statue of Liberty while traveling northeast shortly before it disintegrated over midtown Manhattan. The estimates are based on multiple accounts of booms and tremors alongside a fireball in the sky, ultimately suggesting that the meteor entered Earth’s atmosphere someplace above Upper Bay, traveling down toward the city at a speed of approximately 34,000 mph.
However, NASA updated the meteor’s modeled trajectory after additional people continued to file reports of the event throughout the day. Representatives of NASA Meteor Watch posted on Facebook, “We now have the meteor originating over New York City and moving west into New Jersey… Speed has bumped up a bit to 38,000 mph.”
The size of the meteor was reportedly fairly small, most likely no more than one foot (0.3 meters) in diameter, according to NASA Meteoroid Environment Program manager William Cooke. Essentially, the heat generated by the incredibly high speed caused the meteor to turn into a fireball, Cooke stated, adding, “You expect to see meteors at night [but] not during the day, so this is a rare daylight fireball.”
A resident in Northford, Connecticut, captured footage of the fireball and shared it with the American Meteor Society. In the video, you can clearly see a short white streak soaring across blue skies at high speed.
No meteorites were caused by the fireball, which means that fragments of the rock did not reach the ground, and thankfully, no injuries or any other damage was reported in relation to the event.
As some people witnessed the fireball in the sky firsthand, most others simply heard a booming noise. Residents of Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and northern Jersey noticed a loud rumbling accompanied by shaking. According to Park Ridge, NJ, resident Steven Bradley, “The golden retriever jumped out of his skin, and the cat just darted under the sofa.”
Meteorologists say the sound of the meteor may have traveled further than expected due to high temperatures on Tuesday morning. This is because sound waves move at a much quicker pace through warmer air than they do through cold because air molecules at higher temperatures have more energy and vibrate at a much faster rate.
According to Cooke, however, there is a chance that the loud boom heard by so many people (and pets) may have actually originated elsewhere. This idea has been stated that military activities that were taking place in New Jersey at the same time the meteor entered Earth’s atmosphere could have caused the boom, but further details are being investigated.
