Loud boom heard across parts of NJ, NYC caused by meteor: NASA

NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) – If you heard a boom in parts of New Jersey and New York City on Tuesday morning, you may be wondering, what was that noise? Well, after close examination, NASA reports the sound that was heard across the area may have been caused by a meteor.

“It was like a rumbling. I thought it was thunder shaking the house, but it's sunny out,” Brian Herskowitz from Red Bank, says as he recalls his experience after feeling the effect of the fireball.

NASA reports the meteor traveled above the Statue of Liberty at 34,000 miles per hour between 10 a.m. and noon and may have left remnants as it disintegrated 29 miles above Midtown Manhattan if it were traveling low enough in the atmosphere.

With advanced technological capabilities, the American Meteor Society has a computer that will analyze these reports and create a trajectory if given enough information.

Robert Lunsford, fireball coordinator of the American Meteor Society, said the meteor traveling in the lower atmosphere caused the metallic body to be audible to New Yorkers and New Jerseyans.

“It's basically the meteor traveling faster than the speed of sound and making it down to the lower atmosphere that creates the sonic boom that creates the loud explosion-like noise,” Robert Lundsford said.

In addition to the trajectory of the meteor, the denser air from Tuesday's heat may have allowed us to hear the meteor more clearly as well.

NASA put out a statement on Facebook saying the exact path of the meteor is unclear, as the trajectory is based on a few eyewitness accounts since no camera or satellite data is currently available. Reports of military activity around the time of the meteor could explain the shakings and sounds reported by some residents.

The New York City Emergency Management Department has received no reports of damage or injury in the case of this event.