GoKawiilReports of an explosion from people across New England on Saturday afternoon sent police agencies and others scrambling to understand what caused a double boom that shook buildings in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
NASA shared new details on the size and path of the meteor on Monday, upgrading the size of the object and revealing how far it flew before exploding.
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The meteor was about five feet wide, according to the space agency, with a mass of 5.6 metric tons. (That's about the weight of a large elephant.) Traveling at about 42,000 mph when it entered the atmosphere at 2:06 p.m., the meteor streaked through the sky for 26 miles, headed from northwest to southeast.
The flaming object, confirmed to be made of natural material, as opposed to a satellite or space debris, broke up 31 miles above sea level with force equivalent to 230 tons of TNT, and the meteorite fell into Cape Cod Bay.
UPDATE: @NASA can confirm a fireball over New England at 2:06 p.m. EDT on Saturday, May 30, 2026. The meteor was about 5 feet (1.6 meters) in diameter with a mass of 5.6 metric tons and entered Earth’s atmosphere at roughly 42,000 mph.
The meteor traveled through the atmosphere… https://t.co/GLeF68Q7NG — NASA Space Alerts (@NASASpaceAlerts) June 1, 2026
The American Meteor Society had earlier said that the booms people heard were actually caused by a meteor about 3 feet wide entering the atmosphere around the New Hampshire border with Massachusetts, north of Boston.
American Meteor Society program monitor Robert Lunsford said the group received dozens of reports from Delaware to Montreal with people either hearing the double boom, feeling the ground shake or seeing the fireball, which he said looked like a shooting star in the daytime sky.
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