A number of Little Compton, Tiverton and Wesport residents reported hearing - and feeling - a loud mysterious boom at about 8:40 p.m. on Wednesday.

Little Compton Police Chief Sidney Wordell received two 911 calls about the mystery boom.

"We did receive a couple of calls last night and and we checked in with Westport and Tiverton as well," said Wordell. "They had similar reports as they received a couple of calls as well."

Wordell noted that neither Little Compton or its neighboring police departments received any reports of explosions, and callers who experienced the mysterious boom also noted a lack of noise associated with the brief shaking feeling.

"We were sitting there watching TV and it felt like a full size tree landed right outside the window." said Chris S. Pinkerton, who lives in north Little Compton by the Stone Church. "It was one big boom, there wasn't any noise, but the entire house shook."

At first, Pinkerton and his wife speculated the wind was to blame - that was until a friend who lives five miles away near the Little Compton Commons posted a message on Facebook. She too was wondering what just caused her house to shake.

Amateur Astronomer Jim Gillard of the Twillingate Observatory says whatever may have fallen into a pond near Badger wasn't a bird or a plane but it wasn't space junk either. VOCM's Renell LeGrow explains.

Dawe's Pond has certainly been the topic of conversation for many here in central this week - on Monday, Gillard made the trek west of Badger after reports that something struck the frozen pond with force, driving water up through the ice, freezing again in an odd ripple effect. Something certainly out of the ordinary, Gillard says, but today, he's confident in saying it was a natural occurrence.

Gillard says at 3:00 this morning, he left Twillingate and headed again to the area - this time to check out reports of two other similar discoveries on two other ponds, close in proximity to Dawe's Pond. Since Monday, enough slush has melted for a closer examination, and now he says cracks in the ice seem very natural and common. He says had it been a meteor, there would have been particles left behind. It's all still puzzling, and he has no idea what happened, but he says it's safe to rule out anything that might have dropped from outer space.

12 March 2013 - Kyo, Eastlake, California, USA 21:20 Pacific Time

4 seconds duration. Right to left, I was facing East. Blue tail then color disappeared. As bright as the moon, it was quite big and easy to see.

12 March 2013 - Jerome Jarvis, Oceanside, CA, USA ~21:10 PDT

What I saw lasted about 4-5 seconds. I was facing East; it travelled North. Extremely bright white in color, changing to intense bright green just prior to exploding. No sound heard. It was far brighter than Venus. No fragmentation visible until explosion... it was very brief.

12 March 2013 - Khaylee, San Diego, CA 9:15 PM Pacific Time Zone

15-20 seconds duration. North to NW direction, I was facing SE. Bright green in color. Brightness of the moon, it was solid sphere shaped, with a slight trail. Only one fragmentation event occurred. It was following nothing and was followed by nothing.

In this new video from Big Think, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson says he's almost embarrassed for our species that it takes a warning shot across our bow before legislators take seriously the warning they've been getting from astronomers that its a matter of when not if Earth will get smacked by an asteroid.

"But it took an actual meteor over Russia exploding with 25 times the power of the atom bomb in Hiroshima to convince people that maybe we should start doing something about it."

Initial Sighting Reports

11 March 2013 - Antony Clarke, Pahoa, Hawaii, 6:30 am LST

3-4 seconds duration. Traveled NE to SW. We were facing NW. Bright green, very bright, brighter than Venus. Broke into 2-3 pieces before reaching surface. Upper track obscured by cloud so only lower part of track visible. Apparent angle of descent was about 45 degrees.

11 March 2013 - Dennis, Kona, Hawaii, 06:14

7 seconds duration. NE-SW direction, I was facing West. It was a large green ball with a white center and a green tail. Brighter than the Moon, less than the sun. It seemed to fall into the ocean. Sky was still dark.

Initial Sighting Reports

12 March 2013 - Hein Maij, Tulbagh, Western Cape, South Africa 12h30

5 seconds duration. East-West direction, I was facing South. Bright white light then explosion. Very white bright color.

12 March 2013 - Danni, Cape Town, SA 12:30

3-5 seconds duration. North-South direction. As bright as the Sun, it was white. It was burning and shooting down.

12 March 2013 - Leon Coetzee, Cape Town, SA 12:45

5 seconds duration. Southwest. Brilliant white colour, the whitest white, like a spot light. Part seemed to fall off. Very big white ball with long white tail. It looked like it was about 10 to 15 km away. Then an explosion, no more light just a huge ball of smoke. Most amazing thing I have ever seen in my life. Very exited. Don't know why it wasn't on the news. Didn't anybody else see it?????????

Cape Town - Residents across Cape Town claimed to have sighted a meteorite on Tuesday after what appears to have been a fireball "exploded" in the sky.

It is said to have been sighted just after noon. Nicola Loaring, an outreach astronomer at the South African Astronomical Observatory, said they had received about four or five reports.

The green and blue light with a white tail that was reported to them appeared to be that of "a fireball, which is a bright meteor".

Fireballs were caused by dust formed in space that enter Earth's atmosphere.

"There are two meteor showers in March with one peaking on March 13 and this could be related to that.

Loaring said another meteor shower would start later this month and peak in April."

"Meteor showers are best viewed in the morning. Up to eight an hour can be seen," Loaring said.

People shouldn't be alarmed since these were "common and predictable".

Company director John Houston captured part of the event on camera while he was driving on the N1 from Stellenbosch.

There was a "huge" explosion that left a white cloud close to the Durbanville hills, he said.

An amateur astronomer says a large hole in the ice on Dawe's Lake near Badger in central Newfoundland must have been caused by an object that fell from the sky.

"We've looked all around," said Jim Gillard, who runs the Twillingate Astronomical Observatory. "There don't appear to be anything else that could've caused this, except something that fell out of the sky."

The hole, which measures about 55 metres by 60 metres, was first discovered on Friday morning by a cabin owner in the area.

Cleveland - More than two dozen people from seven states - including Ohio -- reported seeing a fireball in the sky over the weekend.

The American Meteor Society posted Monday on its website that 25 people submitted reports about the sighting Saturday, which apparently happened at about 7 p.m. Nearly half of the reports were from Ohio.

Here are a few of the narratives submitted by the observers:

"I was driving on SR 39 heading NW when I saw this very bright white ball with a tail in my left peripheral vision. I turned to look, saw it had a tail, then disappeared for a split second, then a bright flash and it was gone. Amazing and beautiful." - Shelia H. / Millersburg, Ohio

"Smoky trail like a com trail. the head looked like it was glowing." - Andrea S. / Cleveland, Ohio

"This is the second time I have witnessed a meteor during the day. I regularly view meteor showers during nights they are expected. It was very exciting. Just happened to be looking in the right direction at the right time!" - Linda F. / Green, Ohio

NewsChannel5 reporter Paul Kiska saw the fireball, too. He also submitted a report:

"I've seen a few meteor showers and but never a fireball this huge, this bright, this beautiful!"

07 March 2013 - Keith Harvey, Fins (near Sur), Oman

10-20 seconds duration. It went from overhead to the horizon. Direction of travel: Southeast. Orange colour. As bright as Venus. Location: Approx. 23N 59E

07 March 2013 - Susie Barka, Muscat, Oman @ 19.15

5 seconds duration. North-South. It was a large elongated fireball, burning white hot, with an electric blue tail followed by a green band and then an orange band. It was as bright as the sun and very large.