What a Sight: Meteor Soars Over NY’s Statue of Liberty at 34,000 Mph

Around 20 people witnessed a meteor passing over the Statue of Liberty and disintegrating around 29 miles above Midtown Manhattan, New York , on Tuesday, July 16.

Knewz.com has learned that the " fireball " was seen over the Big Apple at around 1:17 a.m. local time.

Several eyewitnesses have reported hearing sounds and feeling mild tremors as the meteor zoomed through the New York sky.

The NASA Meteor Watch wrote that the meteor was first sighted at an altitude of 49 miles above Upper New York Bay, east of Greenville Yard.

"Moving a bit east of North at 34,000 miles per hour, the meteor descended at a steep angle of just 18 degrees from vertical, passing over the Statue of Liberty before disintegrating 29 miles above midtown Manhattan," the NASA Meteor Watch explained in a post on social media.

The trajectory of the "daylight fireball" mapped by the NASA organization is based on eyewitness accounts of the meteor sighting received by the American Meteor Society.

A total of 43 eyewitnesses across New York, Pennsylvania , Delaware, Connecticut, New Jersey , Maryland, and Rhode Island wrote to the nonprofit scientific organization providing details of their sightings.

Many of the reports differ in terms of the color of the meteor and the stages of fragmentation they observed.

An observer by the name of Jonathan K from New Jersey reported seeing "5 very closely spaced red streaks" approaching from the Northeast following the fragmentation and "coming to ground with the red light disappearing about 1500 feet above the treeline."

On the other hand, an observer named Wendy A from Montgomeryville, Pennsylvania, wrote that the meteor "just fizzled out like glitter" at the end.

A notable observation was made by an individual named Antonio O from New York City, who watched the meteor spectacle for 30 seconds before its fragmentation, following which he saw it break apart into "at least three pieces."

Antonio reported that the meteor displayed the colors green, light green, yellow, and white, while many other accounts mentioned seeing the color orange.

Another observer named Jason Stier from Wayne, New Jersey, captured footage of the meteor using his Nest doorbell camera. The three-second video showed a faint white trail heading toward the ground at a rather steep angle.

Mark Kirschner from Northford, Connecticut, managed to snap a picture of the meteor and capture a short video of the sighting with his AMS149 Allsky camera. The brief footage also showed a white trail speeding toward the ground at an angle, similar to the video submitted by Stier from New Jersey.

A lot of other observers reported seeing the meteor in the comment section of NASA Meteor Watch's Facebook Post.

"I think I saw this or another one like it in King of Prussia, [Pennsylvania]. It was right around 11:15 and something caught my eye ... I looked up and saw something that looked gray/silver with orange flashing out behind it," one of the comments read.

"I watched it for a few seconds and then it disappeared. It was north of me and seemed to be heading approximately [Northwest]," the individual added.

Some of the commenters mentioned that although they had not seen the meteor, they "felt" it. "Felt it in Tinton Falls, [New Jersey]. Thought it was thunder. Windows shook," one such individual wrote in the comments.

NASA's Facebook post addressed the fact that many observers reported to the media that they felt mild tremors as the meteor passed above them.

"There are reports of military activity in the vicinity around the time of the fireball, which would explain the multiple shakings and sounds reported to the media," the post explained.