Originally posted by smilodon

When reading up on my observation, I learned that a meteor would have to be a fairly large chunk of material (stone + metal?) entering the atmosphere to burn up so close to the ground. Maybe the size of a car/truck.

So in the NJ story, the meteor concept cannot apply: it takes one or more sizeable asteroids to make it BURNING all the way down to the sea surface. Definitely seen on radar, and a major astronomical event, causing floodwaves and sonic booms to reach the coast.

I suspect something piloted, not of this world went under the waves, and subsequently under deep cover,