A 7-ton meteor that sped across the Cleveland sky at 45,000 miles per hour on Tuesday broke apart in a thunderous boom that startled residents who feared an explosion. People several states away reported seeing the bright fireball even though it was 9 a.m. The American Meteor Society said it received reports from Wisconsin to Maryland. NASA later confirmed that it was a meteor nearly 6 feet in diameter. Astronomer Carl Hergenrother says meteors typically fall about once a day in the U.S. The meteor was first seen about 50 miles above Lake Erie.