Andy’s Astronomy: Huge Meteor Over Boston

For those looking at the skies this week, there was a singular notable event.

On May 30, a meteor — or fireball — exploded in the sky over Boston.

The exploding meteor resulted in numerous calls to emergency services before people realized what had actually happened.

NASA reports the meteor was about five feet in diameter, weighed in excess of six tons, and was traveling about 42,000 miles per hour when it entered Earth’s atmosphere. It traveled through the atmosphere a distance of about 26 miles before fragmenting at an altitude of 31 miles. NASA also reported the explosion was equivalent to about 230 tons of TNT, and it was composed of iron. It was thought that a meteorite from the meteor fell into Cape Cod Bay.

The sonic boom, perhaps two sonic booms, and shaking had some people believing that an earthquake had struck the area.

Once again, Earth’s atmosphere protected from what might have been a major disaster.

This event is a reminder to keep your eyes on the sky for passing fireballs.

Meteors can flash across the sky anytime, day or night, and they are spotted quite often.

The May 30 fireball was reported by 87 people across Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, Ontario, and Quebec, Canada. There were likely many more witnesses that did not report the event

The fireball was first reported at 2:10 pm by a skywatcher in New York. It was seen as far north and east as Ashland, ME, as far south as Newark, MD, and as far west as Oakville, Ontario, Canada. The fireball appeared to travel from northwest to southeast.

Nine skywatchers reported hearing noise attributable to the fireball, and eight witnessed it fragment into smaller pieces. Two captured videos of it and two took photos of it.

Anyone seeing a fireball is urged to report the sighting to https://amsmeteors.org

Going outside and looking at the night sky can be fun and educational for the entire family.

There are a number of free apps available to help identify stars and constellations, and some of the apps will show satellites.

Happy skywatching!