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

The fireball broke up over northeastern Massachusetts and southeastern New Hampshire at 2:06 p.m., the US space agency’s deputy news chief Jennifer Dooren told Agence France-Presse 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.

“The energy released at breakup is estimated to be equivalent to about 300 tons of TNT, which accounts for the loud booms.”

The meteor was traveling at more than 120,000 kilometers per hour at an altitude of 40 miles when it broke apart, Dooren said.

Area residents were alarmed by the unexpected loud booms, with social media users reporting they were so powerful that houses were shaking.

In 2013 a fireball streaked above Chelyabinsk, Russia. The house-sized space rock blew apart 14 miles above the ground, releasing a blast equivalent to 440,000 tons of TNT, NASA said.

The explosion blew out windows over 518 square kilometers, injuring more than 1,600 people, mostly due to broken glass.