Loud bang over the downs last night - skyquake?

[Calne_Sam]

did anyone else hear an almighty BANG about 11 last night? shook the windows, set car alarms off down the close, the dog went mental. no storm, clear sky. my husband said sonic boom but theres no fast jets round here is there. saw online its called a skyquake when theres no obvious cause and apparently they happen all over and nobody really knows why. just us or did the whole village hear it?

[Cherhill_Bill]

heard it, so did the cattle, had them milling at the gate at gone eleven which they dont do for nothing. we get these now and again. the old folk called them the Barisal guns or some such, booms with no storm behind them. usually put down to military out on the plain, they do all sorts on the ranges and dont always tell us, or quarry blasting, though not at eleven at night. i put it down to the army and i am usually right to. usually.

[Marlborough_Skies]

Not me last night, I was clouded out. For the record skyquakes are a genuine documented puzzle, Sam, your husband is not daft. Most are explained eventually: sonic booms, meteors entering low, mine blasting, gas release, military. A few are not. The honest position is that the sky and the ground both make noises we cannot always source, and a clear still night with no aircraft and no storm is exactly when one of the unexplained ones gets noticed, because there is nothing to blame it on. File it, do not lose sleep, but you are not imagining it and you are not alone in hearing it.

[Calne_Sam]

thanks both, weirdly reassuring that the cows heard it too, makes me feel less mad. army most likely then. though i did NOT love bill saying the cattle dont mill for nothing. off to make the kids breakfast and pretend the sky doesnt go bang in the night.