NEW YORK (WABC) — Could a meteorite be the cause of the loud explosion heard in parts of New York City and northern New Jersey?
New York City officials launched an investigation after reports of loud noises heard in Staten Island, Brooklyn and Queens on Tuesday morning. Similar reports were also heard in New Jersey.
The New York City Office of Emergency Management received an update from NASA, which estimates the meteorite entered the atmosphere early Tuesday morning and broke up over the New York City metropolitan area.
Preliminary analysis indicates that the meteorite passed over the Statue of Liberty and then broke up over midtown Manhattan. No meteorites were produced by this event.
The Office of Emergency Management said it has not received any reports of damage or injuries related to the incident.
The American Meteor Society, an amateur meteor watcher group, listed up to 20 meteors appearing between 11:16 and 11:20 a.m.
Lee Goldberg gives us the latest on the explosion.
“Based on this data, we estimate that the fireball was first sighted 49 miles above the Upper Bay (east of Greenville Yards). Traveling northeast at 34,000 miles per hour, the meteor descended at a steep angle of 18 degrees from vertical, passed over the Statue of Liberty, and then disintegrated 29 miles above midtown Manhattan,” said Bill Cook, director of NASA’s Meteor Environment Office.
Chief meteorologist Lee Goldberg said heat and high temperatures could have helped the sound travel.
A small inversion on Tuesday morning caused temperatures to rise with altitude, which may have helped the sound travel: Sound waves actually travel faster in warm air than in cold air, which can make the sound louder.
The higher the temperature, the more energy the air molecules have and the faster they vibrate, so the faster the sound waves travel.
Judah Bergman told Eyewitness News he was working at his desk in Lakewood when he saw a fireball streak across the sky.
“It was long and it went really fast,” he said. “It looked like a long burning stick or something was flying through the air.”
Bill Cook of NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office said the fireball was a small meteor about a foot in diameter and traveling at 34,000 miles per hour.
“When you’re moving that fast, something’s going to heat up,” he said. “Meteors are usually thought of as something you see at night, not during the day, but this was a rare daytime fireball.”
Cook said it wasn’t entirely clear whether the loud explosions people heard when they saw the fireball were from the fireball itself or from military activity taking place at the same time in New Jersey.
“So if there was a fireball explosion, it would be buried under all the material generated by military activity on the South side,” he said.
Steven Bradley, of Park Ridge, recalled hearing the explosion.
“Then, not even a second later, the house shook as if something had hit the roof,” he said.
Bradley said the noise and rumbling was enough to scare her pets.
“The golden retriever jumped out of his seat and the cat ran under the sofa,” he said.
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