Meteor Boston Captured on Spectacular Video as Fireball Streaks Over City Skyline
BOSTON— A brilliant fireball, officially identified as a meteor, illuminated the skies over Boston and surrounding New England communities on Thursday evening, March 14, at approximately 8:47 PM Eastern Standard Time. The American Meteor Society confirmed the event after receiving more than 200 reports from eyewitnesses across Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire, describing a bright, fast-moving object with a distinct trail. Residents from Back Bay to Cambridge reported a loud sonic boom that shook windows and triggered a surge in emergency calls to local authorities, though no injuries or property damage have been confirmed. The meteor, estimated to have entered the atmosphere at roughly 33,000 miles per hour, disintegrated over the Atlantic Ocean east of the Boston Harbor, according to preliminary analysis from NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. Social media platforms, particularly X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok, flooded with user-generated footage capturing the event, with one video from a downtown office building showing the fireball breaking into multiple fragments before vanishing. This spectacle follows a trend of increased meteor activity in the region, with experts attributing the visibility to clear, moonless conditions and a low cloud ceiling that amplified the glow.