'Sonic Boom' heard in UK likely caused by 'daytime fireball' meteor

"Normally when you hear that it's a good sign that you have got rocks that have made it to the surface. It's incredibly exciting and I'm a bit stunned."

MARCH 22, 2021 15:53

A bright fireball, believed to be a meteor streaks across the sky over city of Austin, 2019 (photo credit: ORLANDO RODRIGUEZ /VIA REUTERS) — A bright fireball, believed to be a meteor streaks across the sky over city of Austin, 2019

(photo credit: ORLANDO RODRIGUEZ /VIA REUTERS)

A loud "sonic boom" heard throughout parts of England Saturday afternoon appears to have been caused by an "extremely rare" type of meteor known as a daytime fireball, the BBC reported Sunday.

The loud sonic boom was reported in Dorset, Somerset, Devon and Jersey, and was accompanied by pictures and videos on social media depicting an object appearing to fly across the sky.

But after experts analyzed the images, they determined it was a meteor.

University of Oxford aviation meteorology expert Simon Proud took to Twitter to confirm this, and showed footage of the meteor flying over the UK captured via weather satellite.

Sometimes weather sats see unexpected things.Do you see the flash in this video? That's a #meteor flying over the UK this afternoon!Spotted thanks to @willgater's excellent detective work! https://t.co/Ia7f39UJshData: @eumetsatProcessed: @OxfordPhysics / @NCEOscience. pic.twitter.com/I7PSQBnQu5
— Simon Proud (@simon_sat) March 20, 2021

According to Dr. Ashley King of the UK Fireball Alliance, the meteor would likely have been flying at supersonic speeds.

"Normally when you hear that it's a good sign that you have got rocks that have made it to the surface. It's incredibly exciting and I'm a bit stunned," he said, according to the BBC.

The alliance has also asked people in the area to report finds of any fragments, which are believed to be small blackish stones or dark dust, BBC reported.

The incident occurred ahead of a planned flyby of a sizeable asteroid named 2021 EQ3, which is set to fly closer to the Earth than the Moon Monday night, though the 38 meter-wide asteroid will not pose any risk to anything or anyone on the planet, or any nearby satellites.

Sarah Chemla contributed to this report.