A meteor exploded off the coast of Massachusetts on Saturday afternoon, producing a boom loud enough to rattle windows and shake homes across the state, according to WBZ-TV chief meteorologist Eric Fisher.
The blast was reported at about 2:11 p.m. Eastern, with residents describing a sudden bang that startled pets and shook houses. WBZ-TV said dozens of calls flooded its newsroom reporting an explosion heard around Boston and as far away as Ipswich, Massachusetts, and Johnston, Rhode Island.
The event was no isolated local sighting. According to preliminary reports submitted to the American Meteor Society, dozens of people across the Northeast reported seeing a fireball around 2 p.m. Saturday, with sightings spanning several states, observations that help scientists reconstruct the object’s path through the atmosphere. Satellite lightning data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration showed a signature consistent with a meteor at roughly the same time, and indicated the object likely entered the atmosphere over the South Shore near Boston, WBZ-TV reported…