© Justin Wolff via Unsplash
On Saturday, a meteorite disintegrated in the atmosphere over northeastern Massachusetts and southeastern New Hampshire in the U.S.
Police departments in the U.S. states of Massachusetts and New Hampshire were overwhelmed by phone calls about loud bangs. NASA came out with a statement.
"This fireball was not related to a currently active meteor shower, but it was a natural object and not a re-entry into the atmosphere of space debris or a satellite," Jennifer Dooren, a press officer for the U.S. space agency NASA told the AFP news agency. "The energy released in the disintegration is estimated to be about 300 tons of TNT, which explains the loud bangs."
The meteorite was flying at a speed of more than 120,000km/h at an altitude of 65 kilometers when it disintegrated.
Illustration picture: © Justin Wolff via Unsplash