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NASA Confirms Meteor Blast Over Massachusetts, Northeast Boom

6/4/2026

Summary

NASA Confirms Meteor

NASA confirmed a meteor exploded over Massachusetts on May 30 2026 at 2:06 p.m. EDT, producing a boom heard across the Northeast.
The bolide, 5 feet (1.6 m) in diameter and 5.6 metric tons, entered at ~42,000 mph and fragmented at 31-40 miles altitude.
It traveled 26 miles from Boston’s South Shore to Cape Cod Bay, where debris fell into water 34 meters (100 feet) deep.
The sonic boom rattled windows, startled pets in Massachusetts and neighboring states, and resulted in no injuries.

Summary

McCleary Warns Rarity

Jacqueline McCleary said daytime bolides like the Cape Cod fireball are rare, once per generation.
Robert Lunsford of the American Meteor Society said Earth receives 48.5 tons of meteoric material and that radar-detected fragments range from 40 grams to several kilograms, larger than typical 1-10 gram meteorites.
Jacqueline McCleary and Robert Lunsford said climate change does not affect bolides and warned locating water fragments would be like finding a needle in a haystack.

Summary

NASA Explains Boom

NASA said the double boom over New England was caused by a natural meteor, not a satellite or space debris.
The U.S. Geological Survey opened a “Did you feel it?” page, but its seismographs recorded no earthquake.
Residents in Peabody, Massachusetts blamed a fallen tree, while a neighbor suggested alien activity.
The American Meteor Society logged dozens of sightings from Delaware to Montreal, according to monitor Robert Lunsford.

Summary

Officials Deny Meteor

Agency officials said they have no evidence the May 28, 2026 Columbia, SC boom was meteor-related.
The National Earthquake Information Center logged over 1,700 reports of the 5:24 p.m. sonic event on May 28.
Robert Lunsford posted a video of a low-altitude contrail and boom, implying an aircraft caused it.
Shaw Air Force Base and McEntire Joint National Guard Base said no aircraft were over Columbia during the boom.

History

Historical Context

On 30 June 1908 the Tunguska air burst over Siberia released about 15–30 Mt of energy, flattening a vast forest; Leonid Kulik’s 1927 expedition confirmed no crater, establishing the event as a meteoroid explosion. Modern monitoring shows similar bolides, and the 30 May 2026 Massachusetts fireball produced a comparable high-altitude blast, prompting expanded detection efforts.

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NASA Confirms Meteor

NASA confirmed a meteor exploded over Massachusetts on May 30 2026 at 2:06 p.m. EDT, producing a boom heard across the Northeast.
The bolide, 5 feet (1.6 m) in diameter and 5.6 metric tons, entered at ~42,000 mph and fragmented at 31-40 miles altitude.
It traveled 26 miles from Boston’s South Shore to Cape Cod Bay, where debris fell into water 34 meters (100 feet) deep.
The sonic boom rattled windows, startled pets in Massachusetts and neighboring states, and resulted in no injuries.

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