(WJAR) — More people are sharing their accounts of the meteorite that fell on Saturday afternoon, causing a boom heard all throughout the region.
Bob Todt was driving in Fort Plain, New York when it happened, and noticed something strange on the horizon – a flaming object streaking across the sky and captured on his dash camera.
“We were leaving my daughter’s wedding, and as we were driving down the road, I saw the streak,” Todt said. “Of course you think in your head ‘Did I really see that?'”
Devin Bates speaks to locals who had first-hand experiences with the meteorite that entered the Earth’s atmosphere on May 30, 2026. (WJAR)
While it will ultimately be far from the most lasting memory of his daughter’s wedding day, it was certainly a bizarre sight.
NASA estimates the meteorite hurled towards the earth at speeds of roughly 75,000 miles per hour. Todt had mostly forgotten about the strange sight until Sunday morning when he checked his dash camera archive.
“When out, I got the stick, pulled it up and it was there,” Todt said. “I just figured it was a piece of debris or something and I wouldn’t hear anything about it again, and I just posted it on Facebook as a curiosity thing.”
Todt wasn’t the only one initially confused by the meteorite, but further east in New England, it wasn’t the sight, but the sound.
Angela Cruz and Thomas Carroll were also driving when it all unfolded.
“We were driving and all of a sudden we hear this noise, and a rock hits the windshield,” Cruz said.
“I thought there’s no way some little tiny rock that made less than an inch of an impact made that loud of a noise,” added Carroll. “I thought maybe some car had crashed.”
Humans weren’t the only ones thrown off of their rhythm by the boom – just ask their dog, Penny.
“I think it shocked her too, she was just kind of looking around like what the heck?” Cruz said.
“She’s usually a very peaceful and calm dog and she likes to just lay down on the car rides, so that caught her attention,” Carroll said.
NASA says the meteorite exploded over New England at 2:06 p.m. EDT on Saturday, and it appears to have fragmented at an altitude of 40 miles above extreme northeast Massachusetts/southeast New Hampshire.
NASA says this fireball was not associated with any currently active meteor shower, but it was a natural object and not a re-entry of space debris or a satellite. The energy released at breakup is estimated to be equivalent to about 300 tons of TNT, which accounts for the loud booms.
