It May Have Been a Meteor Creating The Sonic Boom Heard Across S NH....

 

From WMUR

 

 

MANCHESTER, N.H. —

A loud boom heard Sunday across parts of southern and central New Hampshire might have been caused by a meteor, scientists said.

Some Granite Staters reported hearing the sound at about 11:30 a.m. and then feeling a slight rumble. Reports came in from more than 40 cities and towns from Keene to Farmington and from people in northern Massachusetts and eastern Maine.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, there were no reported earthquakes in New England on Sunday. The Federal Aviation Administration said there was no military plane activity over the state, either.

Scientists said the sound was likely a sonic boom caused by a meteor that entered the atmosphere at supersonic speed and then quickly burned up.

"The Earth is always passing through this sort of dust of sporadic meteoroids," said Ryan Volz, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "And mostly, they're very small, dust-sized particles, and they're creating meteor events that no one notices except scientists that try and look for them. But sometimes, you get these bigger meteoroids, and they create something that everybody notices."

Scientists said that while a meteor is likely the cause, the only way to prove it is if someone saw it. Because it was overcast across much of the region Sunday morning, there might not be any evidence of a meteor.