Giant fireball meteor whizzes over Statue of Liberty as residents report feeling a shaking and hearing a 'boom'

NASA reports that a screaming, 34,000 mile-per-hour meteor blazed past nan Statue of Liberty successful New York Harbor on Tuesday, incinerating itself supra nan city.

New Yorkers and moreover nan residents of adjacent states reported emotion an earthquake-like rumble and hearing a large 'boom' Tuesday greeting — arsenic nan agleam and plunging fireball burned itself into oblivion an estimated 29 miles supra midtown Manhattan.

Multiple authorities agencies leapt into action to place nan mysterious, rattling explosion, including NASA's Meteoroid Environments Office and nan United States Geological Survey's (USGS) National Earthquake Information Center.

But NASA noted location was grounds for an replacement explanation. 

'There are reports of subject successful nan vicinity astir nan clip of nan fireball,' nan abstraction agency said, 'which could explicate nan shaking and sounds reported to nan media.'

Despite NASA's caveat, however, Pentagon officials told NBC New York that neither nan North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), nor immoderate different US subject sensor network, had tracked thing that could explicate nan witnesser reports.

Astronomer and lead for NASA's Meteoroid Environments Office, Bill Cooke, issued a connection connected nan constricted facts astir nan arena that are presently known.

According to Cooke, the daylight fireball was first spotted astatine 11:17am section clip adjacent Greenville Yard, a freight obstruction gait located astatine nan Port of New York and New Jersey.

'The fireball was first sighted astatine an altitude of 49 miles supra Upper Bay (east of Greenville Yard),' Cooke said. 

'The meteor descended astatine a steep perspective of conscionable 18 degrees from vertical,' he continued, 'moving a spot eastbound of North astatine 34,000 miles per hour.'

The NASA charismatic thanked amateur sky-watchers pinch the American Meteor Society whose data 'permitted a very crude determination of nan trajectory of nan meteor.'

Trackers pinch nan nonprofit technological group, founded successful 1911, noted arsenic galore as 20 imaginable meteor sightings betwixt 11:16 and 11:20 am. The society's unconfirmed fireball reports were dispersed crossed nan tri-state area, from New Jersey, New York and Connecticut — and beyond into Delaware and Maryland.

'It conscionable caught my eye: a fireball conscionable streaming done nan sky,' eyewitness Judah Bergman told section news. 'I couldn't judge it.'  

Despite resident reports of beingness rattling and shaking on nan fireball's path — from northeast New Jersey and Staten Island, New York — nan USGS stated successful an charismatic connection that it recorded nary grounds of an earthquake.

'An introspection of nan seismic information successful nan area showed nary grounds of an earthquake. The USGS has nary nonstop grounds of nan root of nan shaking,' nan national agency's National Earthquake Information Center said.

'Past reports of shaking pinch nary associated seismic awesome person had atmospheric origins,' USGS officials added, 'such arsenic sonic booms aliases weather-related phenomena.'

One mentation for nan presumed aliases alleged meteor's notably large and earthshaking racket whitethorn person stemmed from nan unusually heavy summertime air.  

As nan main meteorologist for section affiliate WABC-TV Lee Goldberg noted, this July's grounds power would likely  thief sound resound done nan air.

During precocious somesthesia days, air molecules move much quickly and collide much often successful their heated aliases 'excited' state, which allows nan sound waves that ripples done these molecules collisions to dispersed overmuch much quickly and powerfully. 

NASA officials cautioned that its ain appraisal of nan fireball sighting connected Tuesday was 'uncertain' and 'based connected a fewer eyewitness accounts.' 

'There is nary camera aliases outer information presently disposable to refine nan solution,' nan abstraction agency's meteoroid agency acknowledged.

Cooke's squad astatine this NASA agency vowed to continue gathering accusation successful bid to corroborate these witnesser reports and not finalize its investigation of nan case.

No meteorites, astatine slightest according to NASA, were produced by Tuesday's event.