Meteor explodes over Boston as sonic boom rings out across Massachusetts

A fiery object disintegrated as it fell off the coast of Boston, causing a series of sonic booms that could be heard in numerous towns and cities across the state.

Eric Fisher, chief meteorologist with CBS News' Boston affiliate WBZ-TV, reported that a meteor fell off the coast of Boston around 2 p.m. EDT May 30. According to a report filed with the American Meteor Society, Fisher's description indicated that the phenomenon was “definitely not lighting.”

“It looks the object disintegrated off the southern coast of Massachusetts,” the AMS report adds. “The sounds were heard in numerous cities/towns across eastern MA.”

Nearly 50 witness reports were filed to AMS with sightings of the meteor across eight states and Canada.

'Then there was silence'

According to remarks on the report, the noise from the object “sounded like a sonic boom” and not thunder. Two more booms reportedly followed, and "then there was silence," AMS notes.

Another report filed with the American Meteor Society came from a couple who was driving along a highway a few hundred miles away in New York.

A meteoric year

Another meteor was spotted streaking across the sky above parts of the eastern United States for over 100 miles, leading multiple cities and states to see the fireball on April 7.

The meteor passed over the northeastern part of the country around 2:34 p.m. ET, according to NASA, which also described it as a fireball. People in Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania reported seeing the fireball to the American Meteor Society around that time.

The April 7 meteor marks the latest in a series of asteroids in the atmosphere that have been seen on Earth as they disintegrate.

Other recent meteor sighting comes after other fireballs have been spotted in other parts of the country, including on the West Coast, in the Midwest and in Texas.

March marked a month full of fireballs lighting up the sky, with sightings of different events reported in California, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, Texas, Ohio, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, the District of Columbia and in Ontario, Canada.

What is a meteor?

A meteor, like a comet or asteroid, is a space rock that orbits the sun. The difference between the three lies both in how close it comes to Earth and what it's primarily made of, according to NASA.

While an asteroid is a small, rocky object often found in orbit of Mars and Jupiter, and a comet is a space object made of ice and dust, meteors are a result of a space rock entering Earth's atmosphere. Often called "shooting stars," meteors come from meteoroids – small, often pebble-sizes pieces that break off of asteroids or comets. When a meteoroid enters Earth's atmosphere, it becomes a meteor. Because they enter the atmosphere at such a high speed, meteors burn up as they fall from our sky, creating the streak of light we commonly call a shooting star or fireball.

Contributing: Kate Perez, USA TODAY; Mary Walrath-Holdridge, USA TODAY

Drew Pittock covers national trending news for USA TODAY. He can be reached at [email protected].