A loud boom heard across the south of England was probably caused by a meteor, experts have said.
Footage captured what appeared to be a bright white light streaking across the sky in the Channel Islands at the same time a boom was heard across Devon, Cornwall, Dorset, Somerset and other southern counties.
Residents reported hearing the loud bang just before 3pm on Saturday - loud enough to shake houses and set off car alarms reports DevonLive - with some reports houses shook and car alarms were set off.
The boom was also reported in the north of France.
The RAF says the noise was not down to a jet aircraft, and the British Geological Survey says it was not an earthquake.
Weymouth resident Mike Foster told the Dorset Echo: "I originally thought it was some old wartime ordinance being destroyed, but there was definitely two booms, and I was aware of the sound not dying away for nearly 30 secs - which did NOT sound like a detonation.
"As I was outside, I didn't feel ground shake or anything - so I reckon it was sonic rather than seismic."
Simon Proud, a physicist at Oxford University, said that the meteor was even caught as a flash on a weather satellite image over Minehead.
Science journalist Will Gater told DevonLive: "I’m not 100% certain it was a meteor as you can never be certain but looking at the evidence it strongly suggests it was a meteor bolide."
