WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — A meteor crashing toward Earth exploded over the northeastern United States (US) on Saturday, NASA said, setting off booms that echoed over the region with a blast equivalent to 300 tonnes of TNT.

The fireball broke up over northeastern Massachusetts and southeastern New Hampshire at 2:06 pm (1806 GMT), the US space agency’s Deputy News Chief Jennifer Dooren told AFP in a statement.

“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,” she said.