Rare daylight fireball over the English Channel, sonic boom reported
Image credit: AMS
A rare daylight fireball was observed over the English Channel at 14:50 UTC on March 20, 2021. The event was followed by a sonic boom, heard by many people from the UK.
The American Meteor Society (AMS) received 131 reports so far. The event was mainly seen from the West of France (Brittany, Normandy, and Parisian region) and from South West England and Wales.
A house-shaking sonic boom was heard in parts of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, and Somerset. The sound reportedly triggered car alarms and shook windows.
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's a meteor!
Ian Dryhurst's dash-cam captured the moment a space rock began burning up in the atmosphere over Jersey this afternoon.
Read more here: https://t.co/xl0URJ0cFx pic.twitter.com/2IdHZJeFy0
— ITV News Channel TV (@ITVChannelTV) March 20, 2021
Here are her pics (shared with permission). She's Jersey not Guernsey and pics taken by her 9 year old! pic.twitter.com/oXxTXj6Vsb
— Jen Deacon (@JenDeaco) March 21, 2021
OK. Here it is!
This afternoon's UK #meteor #bolide over the skies of the Bristol Channel (it's the little bright spot that appears just off the coast near Minehead).
This data was kindly processed for me by @simon_sat (thanks, Simon!)
Image credit: Simon Proud/NCEO/EUMETSAT pic.twitter.com/SrFMPeBQmh
— Will Gater (@willgater) March 20, 2021
Image credit: AMS
Teo Blašković founded The Watchers in 2011 and edited it until 2026, covering seismic and volcanic activity, extreme weather, space weather and near-Earth objects. Articles on this page are his archive.
