NEW YORK (WABC) — Could a meteor be the cause of the loud explosion heard in parts of New York City and northern New Jersey?
New York City officials began investigating reports from Staten Island, Brooklyn and Queens of loud noises Tuesday morning. Similar reports were also coming in from New Jersey.
New York City Emergency Management received an update from NASA, which estimated that a meteor entered the atmosphere and disintegrated over the New York metropolitan area earlier Tuesday.
Initial analysis suggests the meteorite passed over the Statue of Liberty before disintegrating over midtown Manhattan. The incident did not produce any meteors.
The emergency department said it had not received any reports of damage or injuries related to the event.
American Meteorological Society Up to 20 possible views listed. Between 11:16 and 11:20 a.m.
Lee Goldberg has the latest on the explosive news.
“Based on this data, we estimate that the fireball was first seen 49 miles above Upper Bay (east of Greenville Square),” said Bill Cooke, head of NASA’s Meteoroid Environments Office. “After moving slightly to the east of north at 34,000 mph, the meteoroid descended at a steep angle of 18 degrees from vertical, passing over the Statue of Liberty before disintegrating 29 miles above midtown Manhattan.”
The heat and extreme temperatures may have helped the sound travel, said chief meteorologist Lee Goldberg.
There was a slight inversion — where temperature increases with height — Tuesday morning that may have helped the sound travel farther. In fact, sound waves travel faster in warm air than in cold air, which may make the sound louder.
Air molecules at higher temperatures have more energy and vibrate faster, allowing sound waves to move faster.
Judah Bergman told Eyewitness News he was working in his office in Lakewood when he saw the fireball shoot across the sky.
“It was very long and very fast, and it looked like a long burning rod or something on fire and flying through the sky,” he said.
The fireball was a small meteor, about a foot in diameter, traveling at 34,000 miles per hour, said Bill Cooke of NASA’s Meteoroid Environments Office.
“When something moves that fast, it heats up,” he said. “We expect to see meteors at night, not during the day, so this was a rare fireball in daylight.”
Cook said it’s not entirely clear whether the loud noises people heard around the time they saw the fireball were caused by the fireball itself or by military activities occurring simultaneously in New Jersey.
“So if the fireball made a noise, it was lost in all the stuff that military activity to the south of you did,” he added.
Stephen Bradley, of Park Ridge, remembers hearing the explosion.
“Then less than a second after that, there was a shaking in the house as if something had hit the roof of my house,” he said.
Bradley said the sound and roar were enough to scare his pets.
“The golden retriever jumped out of his skin and the cat scurried under the couch,” he said.
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