A meteor struck Earth's atmosphere above New York City on Tuesday, exploding in a loud airburst as it scorched across the sky above the Statue of Liberty, NASA reported.
It is unclear how large the meteor may have been. However, The New York Times claimed it was the size of a toaster, albeit without specifying any further details for our quest for accurate and interesting asteroid and meteor measurements.
The meteor in question was spotted at around 11:15 EST as a bright daylight fireball in the sky. According to the American Meteor Society website, the fireball was spotted throughout the tri-state area, with some reports coming from as far as Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Maryland.
NASA's trajectory calculations, which the agency itself admits are very crude, put the meteor's first sighting above the Upper Bay, home of the Statue of Liberty, at an altitude of just shy of 79 kilometers.
From there, it headed north, streaking through the sky at a speed of over 54,700 kilometers per hour.
To put that speed into perspective, the top speed of a Boeing 737 jet plane is 946 kilometers per hour, so this meteor was flying almost 58 times as fast as a Boeing 737.
Ultimately, it made it to midtown Manhattan, where it eventually fully disintegrated over 46 kilometers in the air.
NASA confirmed that there have been no reports of any fragments landing anywhere. Further, according to New York City Emergency Management official Aries Dela Cruz, no damages or injuries have been reported following the meteor.
Meteors and loud booms over New York and New Jersey
Meteors, like their bigger cousins, asteroids, can make thunderous booms when they explode in Earth's atmosphere. As such, they could very easily be why the loud booms and shaking were heard in New York on Tuesday.
But they aren't necessarily related.
Military activity had been reported in the area at the time of the meteor. According to NASA, this, rather than the meteor, could be the source of the loud booms and shaking.
This was further supported by the Federal Aviation Authority, which told NBC New York that only a military aircraft could have made a sonic boom like what was heard. However, after press queries from NBC New York, the Pentagon and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said they were not tracking anything that could have caused the booms or shaking.
Another possibility could, in theory, be earthquakes. However, the US Geological Survey National Earthquake Information Center ruled that out, noting there were no earthquakes in the area.
Just another day in the Big Apple
Several reports indicate that despite the fireball streaking through the sky and the loud booms, many New Yorkers didn't seem to pay much attention to it.
Over the past few months, New York City was struck by a small earthquake, major political tensions, an eclipse, and the hottest year ever recorded thus far. And that's just in addition to the normal hustle and grind that many New Yorkers prioritize in their lives. A meteor exploding in the sky just didn't seem to be able to shake New Yorkers.