Meteor Going 30,000 MPH Explodes Over NJ, Shaking Area With Loud Booms

The fireball that lit up the sky over New Jersey on Tuesday was moving at more than 30,000 mph when it broke into pieces, NASA experts say.

The fireball, confirmed as a meteor by NASA and the American Meteor Society, was first visible off Mastic Beach on Long Island, NASA said in a report on the event.

At that time it was 48 miles above the Atlantic Ocean, NASA said.

It was moving to the southwest at 30,100 miles per hour, NASA said, based on an analysis of publicly available videos. The fireball traveled 117 miles through the upper atmosphere before disintegrating 27 miles above Galloway, the NASA report said.

It was about 30 miles above the ground when it started to fragment, sending shockwaves through the air, said William Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environments Office.

"The booms you heard were from the fireball breaking apart about 30 miles above New Jersey — the videos show multiple fragmentation events," Cooke said, adding that the fireball was about 16 miles from Toms River at the time.

For comparison, commercial airliners cruise at about 5.6 to 7.5 miles (30,000 to 40,000 feet) above the ground, according to Sheffield School of Aeronautics.

Cooke said they could not estimate how big the asteroid was because there wasn't enough information, but said "it had to have been at least a couple of inches in diameter in order to be seen during the day."

It is unusual for a fireball to be seen during the day, said Robert Lunsford, fireball report coordinator with the American Meteor Society, adding that a fireball, which is a meteor that is larger and brighter than normal."

Even more unusual, however, was the fact that so many people reported a distinct green color," Lunsford said.

"Bright meteors can be colorful at night, but this is unusual to notice this during the day. The green color could also signify a high concentration of the element nickel in this meteor," he said. Read more: Fireball Flies Across NJ Skies, Rattles Residents With Boom

The society has received more than 270 reports about the fireball from Pennsylvania and Delaware to New York and Connecticut along with dozens from all over New Jersey, Lunsford said. Videos and photos were submitted by several people to the society.

Nick Brucato of Whiting shared video of it in The Pine Barrens group on Facebook and with Patch.

"Took this video as fast as I could today in Whiting at 2:34 PM. Heard the loud boom minutes later," he said Tuesday.