METEOR ’caused’ sonic boom over south west England

A meteor caused the mystery ‘sonic boom’ that was felt across South West England this afternoon, astronomers believe, and it was caught on camera streaking across the sky.

A taxi driver in Jersey caught the meteor entering the Earth’s atmosphere and disintegrating at the same time as residents took to social media after hearing the blast and feeling an accompanying shockwave at around 3pm today.

A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Defence told MailOnline that the bang was not linked to any RAF activity. 

The mystery ‘sonic boom’ was felt across Devon, Somerset and Dorset (stock image) which rocked homes and set car alarms sounding

He told Devon Live: ‘I’m from Payhembury and I just heard what sounded like a big explosion. 

‘It was this big bass-y boom that reverberated for a good 20 seconds or so, followed by a series of popping noises.

‘I’ve checked and people as far as Dorset also heard it.’   

Meanwhile Stephen Griffiths, from Watchet in Somerset said he felt the vibration ‘boom’ through his greenhouse.

He told Somerset Live: ‘I was in the greenhouse of my back garden and heard it very loudly. I felt the vibration of the boom through the greenhouse floor slabs and my small greenhouse shook.’ 

Elsewhere Twitter user Ollie Peart took to social media to share a clip of the suspected sonic boom and asked: ‘Massive bang over #Dorchester around 20 minutes ago. Any sound nerds know what it is? #Dorset.’

Meanwhile another clip shared by a resident in Devon showed a plane flying over the area in the aftermath of the ‘sonic boom’. 

A spokesman for Devon and Cornwall Police said: ‘We are aware of reports of a ‘loud band’ or a ‘sonic boom’ but are unaware of the source at this time.’  

People on Twitter have since speculated on the cause as one wrote: ‘There was a giant boom over a large area where I live, I heard it too. 

‘It wasn’t a sonic boom from an aircraft though so nobody knows what it was.’ 

Another added: ‘Think we heard the #sonicboom about an hour ago in Somerset…ran upstairs thinking something heavy had crashed on the floor!!!! 

Twitter user Ollie Peart shared footage on social media after a ‘massive bang’ was heard over Dorchester

Mr Peart asked other social media users if they knew where the sound may have come from

‘Flushed face even went out to look at the roof Face with tears of joy #Somerset #SonicBoom.’  

And a third commented: ‘Still can’t see report of #sonicboom like sound yet. I was up on Quart Moor on the Bkackdowns and it was loud, like louder than thunder, shook the ground slightly, but clearly a long way off. 

‘Sounded like it was from Yeovil direction. Seen reported all over Somerset and Dorset.’ 

The incident comes just a month after a sonic boom was heard along the North Cornwall coast.

Residents near the town of Bude took to social media to report hearing a massive bang after the ‘huge explosion’ shook their homes.

The cause of the ‘explosion’ was later found to be from a RAF aircraft completing a supersonic flight some 25 miles off the coast of Cornwall. 

Residents took to social media after hearing the blast and feeling an accompanying shockwave at around 3pm today

An RAF spokesperson later confirmed: ‘The sonic boom heard in the Cornwall area was caused by RAF F-35 Lightning aircraft completing operational training inside the supersonic offshore range area, any inconvenience caused to local residents is regretted.’ 

In January, a sonic boom caused windows to shake in Norwich after an RAF Hawk aircraft completed a high-speed dive as part of an air test schedule.     

A fortnight before that, millions of people across Hertfordshire, Essex, Kent, Cambridge and north and south London also reported hearing an ‘explosion’.

The Ministry of Defence confirmed that an RAF Typhoon Quick Reaction Alert jet had broken the sound barrier at around 700mph over Peterborough.

The jet intercepted a private Bombardier jet travelling from Germany which had lost communications with air traffic control, and escorted it to Stansted Airport at 1.40pm on January 12 – where it later remained parked. 

A sonic boom is caused when an object breaks the sound barrier, meaning it travels through the air at a speed of 770mph.