‘Fireball’ meteor explodes over New York City

Meteor appears to have passed over the Statue of Liberty and then disintegrated over midtown Manhattan, Nasa says

(AFP via Getty Images)

A meteor exploded over New York City in the middle of the day, according to Nasa and local reports.

At around 11.17am local eastern time, a fireball appears to have flown over Manhattan and then disintegrated in a fireball, the space agency said.

Local residents said that the arrival of the meteor sounded like thunder and had led the ground to rumble, in a similar manner to an earthquake.

It said that the meteor was first sighted about 50 miles up, above Upper Bay, and then flew northeast at 34,000 miles per hour. It descended quickly, passed over the Statue of Liberty and then exploded around 23 miles above midtown Manhattan.

No meteorites were produced by the event, Nasa said.

Local reports suggested that the meteor was visible in the sky and that there were booms and shakes experienced around the same time.

But Nasa said it was unable to confirm all of those reports.

The small nature of the meteor, the fact that there is no camera or satellite data available, and the relatively small number of reports of the meteor mean that it is hard to know for sure what journey it took, the space agency said.

Nasa also noted that at least some of the “shakings and sounds” that were reported around the arrival of the meteor might actually be the result of other events. Military activity was reported in the area at the same time, which could also explain some of the disruption.

The US Geological Survey said that it had received reports of shaking, but that there was “no evidence of an earthquake”. It could not say where the shaking it had come from, it said.