Residents in Indianapolis were left looking at the sky after a loud boom reportedly caused houses to shake.
The sound of an explosion was heard over the Indiana capital on Friday night, according to multiple reports shared online.
The Hamilton County Emergency Management first alerted followers on Twitter late on Friday and speculated the sound was due to a “sonic boom.”
The tweet said: “Several reports are coming in from across the county about a possible explosion and a light streaking across the sky. There are no reports of damage. It may have been a sonic boom. Police and fire continue to investigate.”
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But a follow-up tweet stated: “Pilots in Kentucky saw a meteor to the north. A lightning detection system picked up something over Carroll County. The current theory is there was a sonic boom from a meteor.”
Lindsey Monroe, a meteorologist at WTHR said late on Friday: “Meteor report most likely cause of boom, shaking homes in northern suburbs of Indianapolis.”
A video recording of the noise was captured by Mark Zieles who uploaded the 11-second clip onto Twitter. The explosion could be heard as the clip played out.
The National Weather Service’s Indianapolis branch posted on Saturday, April 22, that the loud noise was likely a meteor.
In its Twitter post, the account shared an image that showed where the meteor was detected above Indiana.
It added: “This image shows the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) detection of the likely fireball meteor from yesterday (4/21/23) evening. (Due to the satellite’s viewing angle, the actual location of the meteor was father southeast than indicated.”
This image shows the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) detection of the likely fireball meteor from yesterday (4/21/23) evening. (Due to the satellite’s viewing angle, the actual location of the meteor was farther southeast than indicated). #inwx pic.twitter.com/wTfQAflt1O
— NWS Indianapolis (@NWSIndianapolis) April 22, 2023
According to the Arizona-based non-profit Planetary Science Institute, hundreds of meteorites fall to Earth every year.
It added: “It is estimated that probably 500 meteorites reach the surface of the Earth each year, but less than 10 are recovered.
“This is because most fall into the ocean, land in remote areas of the Earth, land in places that are not easily accessible, or are just not seen to fall (fall during the day).”
Newsweek has contacted the National Weather Service for comment via email.
There have been numerous occasions across the U.S. and beyond where meteors have been seen falling to Earth.
In January, many managed to capture a glimpse of the meteor shower that was seen across the country.
The U.K. national meteorological service for the Met Office confirmed that a meteor had been spotted after several people took to social media to share what they had seen.
Andras Sobester wrote: “Just saw the most astonishing meteor/fireball of some sort shoot across the sky. It had multiple discernible colors—blueish white core, bright red outline, and streak—unlike anything I’ve ever seen.”
