Caught on camera: What was that mysterious 'boom' heard in Bengaluru? An exploding meteor?

Bengaluru, May 20: It was the booming sound heard on Wednesday afternoon and social media lit up after many people reported a loud noise that didn't sound like it came from the earth.

According to the details, the loud sound was heard in Bengaluru's Whitefield area, at nearly 1:45 PM. While some residents said they heard a 'boom,' and a 'thunderous noise,' others felt their homes shaking and windows rattling for as long as five seconds. Locals said they earlier thought it to be an earthquake.

So, what was it? Take a look at this video which was captured by one social media user.

So, what was it?

When a meteor screams through our upper atmosphere, it's a silent show for us here on the ground. Most meteors burn up dozens of miles above the surface, and even if a sonic boom reaches us it comes minutes after the visual spectacle. However, reports of meteors have for years been accompanied by reports of strange sizzling sounds filling the air.

It is also learnt that there is an estimated 25 million meteoroids, micrometeoroids and other space debris enter Earth's atmosphere each day, which results in an estimated 15,000 tonnes of that material entering the atmosphere each year.

What are Meteoroids?

Meteoroid are significantly smaller than asteroids and range in size from small grains to one-meter-wide objects. Objects smaller than this are classified as micrometeoroids or space dust. Most are fragments from comets or asteroids, whereas others are collision impact debris ejected from bodies such as the Moon or Mars.

Effect on atmosphere

The entry of meteoroids into Earth's atmosphere produces three main effects: ionization of atmospheric molecules, dust that the meteoroid sheds, and the sound of passage.

During the entry of a meteoroid or asteroid into the upper atmosphere, an ionization trail is created, where the air molecules are ionized by the passage of the meteor. Such ionization trails can last up to 45 minutes at a time.

However, while the chances of a major asteroid hitting Earth are small - NASA believes there is a one in 3,00,000 chance every year a space rock which could cause regional damage will hit - the devastating prospect is not impossible.