Harvard Scientist Solves Mystery Of 'Boom' Heard Over New England

CAMBRIDGE, MA — A few weeks after people across several New England states reported hearing a loud "boom" that rattled houses and windows, a Harvard scientist has offered an explanation in a Medium post.

According to Avi Loeb, the Baird Professor of Science and Institute director at Harvard, the sound was reported around 7:45-8:00 p.m. on the evening of Oct. 20 across several states, including parts of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine.

In a Facebook post just before 9 p.m. that evening, Mount Washington Observatory in New Hampshire wrote that they did not know for sure what caused the shake, which they did not believe to be an earthquake. Locals posted questions on social media for weeks.

The mystery deepened when officials determined that the sound, which was picked up by an advanced set of microphones of the Galileo Project observatory at Harvard University, "did not resemble the sounds of birds, aircraft or wind, which were recorded many times before," according to Loeb.

Loeb started a webpage designed solely to gather information from anyone who had heard or recorded the mysterious sound. This information, according to Loeb, indicated that Harvard University in Cambridge and parts of New Hampshire detected the sound nearly simultaneously, suggesting "a very distant source at least tens of miles away."

"One question came to mind: 'Is this an Unidentified Anomalous Phenomenon (UAP)? Are aliens using advanced technologies near Earth?'" Loeb wrote.

But by using a series of mathematical calculations based upon numbers for the amplitude and duration of the pressure wave—which were obtained by Andy Mead, who created a sound measuring system—Loeb solved the mystery.

The sound's inferred energy and distance was reminiscent of meteors, which, according to Loeb, "are known to make their own music at high altitudes."

And what happened around the time the sound was heard? A meteor shower!

"The Orionid meteor shower peaked in Massachusetts on Oct. 21," Loeb wrote. "Given the characteristic speed of Orionid meteors, I calculated that the meteor had to be about a meter in diameter to produce the inferred energy of the explosion ... Mystery solved!"

According to NASA, the Orionids, associated with Halley's Comet, peak during mid-October each year and are considered to be one of the most beautiful meteor showers of the year. Each time Halley returns to the inner solar system, its nucleus sheds ice and rocky dust into space, which eventually form the Orionids, NASA said.

Next year's Orionid meteor shower will peak on the mornings of Oct. 20 and 21, with the most brilliant display of meteoroids most likely occurring Oct. 20, according to EarthSky.org.