A meteor exploding in the atmosphere on Saturday afternoon created a loud sonic boom heard across Massachusetts and neighboring New England states [1].
The event caused widespread alarm across the region as residents reported a sudden, powerful blast. Because the sound traveled across state lines, it triggered a surge of reports to emergency services and weather agencies.
Reports of the noise began arriving around 2:10 p.m. [2]. Residents in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire described the sound as a sudden boom that rattled buildings and startled locals.
Experts attribute the noise to a fireball that entered the atmosphere near the border of Massachusetts and New Hampshire [1]. The American Meteor Society said a three-foot wide meteor entered the atmosphere and exploded, causing the boom [3].
Pamela Gardner, reporting for NBC News, said the sound was likely a meteorite entering and blowing up in the atmosphere [4]. The rapid heating and pressure change associated with such an entry typically create the sonic boom heard on the ground.
Witnesses near the coastline reported seeing a visual component to the event. Eric Fisher said to WBZ-TV that they saw a bright fireball and heard a loud boom, noting it was definitely a meteor exploding over the coast [5].
While some reports from other regions mentioned similar sounds, the evidence in the Northeast points to a single atmospheric event. The fireball broke apart upon entry, which prevented a larger impact but generated the shockwave that echoed through the region [1].
“A three-foot wide meteor entered the atmosphere near the Massachusetts and New Hampshire border and exploded, causing the boom.”
The event demonstrates how small celestial objects, even those only a few feet wide, can produce significant acoustic energy when they encounter the dense layers of Earth's atmosphere. The widespread nature of the sonic boom illustrates the physics of shockwaves, where the energy from an atmospheric explosion can be felt across multiple states even if the object itself is completely incinerated before hitting the ground.
