A meteor explosion over Massachusetts on Saturday afternoon prompted dozens of reports from residents across the Northeast who witnessed a bright fireball and heard loud booms that rattled homes and generated numerous emergency calls.

The American Meteor Society received preliminary reports from witnesses who observed the fireball around 2 p.m. ET on Saturday. According to the organization, the meteor was approximately 3 feet wide and entered the atmosphere near the Massachusetts and New Hampshire border.

Sightings and reports of the atmospheric event extended from Delaware to Montreal, indicating the meteor was visible across a wide geographic area. The explosion generated sound waves that reached the ground, causing the loud booms that alarmed residents.

Boston-area residents reported their homes shaking from the sound, prompting an influx of 911 calls to local authorities. Police departments in the region began investigating the reports of the mysterious boom before the meteor explanation became clear.

The incident occurred two days after a similar atmospheric event in South Carolina had caused alarm among residents in that region. Meteor explosions, while relatively rare, can generate significant sound and light effects when larger space rocks enter Earth's atmosphere at high speeds.