Area Residents Report Seeing Fireball in Vermont Sky

Loud booms and a massive fireball created quite the light and sound show on Sunday evening.  Witnessed by thousands of residents throughout the Northeast, on Tuesday it was confirmed that the Earth-shaking eruption was indeed a meteor. Experts say it was no bigger than a 10 pound bowling ball, but packed the punch of over 400 pounds of TNT.

According to NASA, there were reports of  Capital Region residents witnessing it, but folks about an hour or so outside the immediate area had the most reported accounts of the red hot fireball. 

The meteor that exploded over parts of Vermont and the Northeast was relatively small in size but the eruption it created was anything but diminutive. Some residents in Saratoga Springs, according to Space.com say they saw it, but the majority of eyewitness accounts seem to have come from Northern Vermont, particularly in Burlington and areas southeast of that location.

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According to Nasa Meteor Watch, the bright fireball was seen at approximately 5:38 on Sunday March 7th.

"I live in Burlington, Vermont. I saw the flash and then heard a boom. Didn’t know what was going on. Lol" -Zach Learned Facebook 

According to the Space.com here's what happened:  "The shock wave was a result of the meteor fracturing due to atmospheric pressure. As the bowling ball-size chunk of a larger parent asteroid moved at nearly 55 times the speed of sound through the atmosphere, pressure built up in front of it and a vacuum formed behind it. Eventually, the stress of that differential caused the rock to explode."

Here's a look at the map where witnesses reported seeing and hearing it: