Earthquake or sonic boom? What was that you heard and felt last night?
Both an earthquake and sonic boom shook parts of the Treasure Coast Wednesday night and early Thursday morning.
About three hours apart, the magnitude 4.0 earthquake struck at about 10:48 p.m. about 100 miles east of Cape Canaveral, and then NASA's PACE spacecraft launched at 1:33 a.m. from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station atop a Falcon 9 spacecraft, creating the sonic boom.
People in parts of Indian River County took to social media to ask if what they'd heard and felt was an earthquake or sonic boom. Here's what you might have heard and felt in Indian River County.
Did an earthquake hit the Treasure Coast?
The magnitude 4.0 earthquake occurred in the Atlantic Ocean, about 100 miles east of Cape Canaveral, at a shallow depth of about 6 miles, according to the United States Geological Survey.
People had self-reported feeling the earthquake in Sebastian, Vero Beach and as far south as Stuart on the Geological Survey's website as of 9:52 a.m. Friday, according to "Did You Feel It?" data, a citizen-reporting tool used to measure the potential reach of earthquakes.
That data is collected by community members and has not been reviewed by scientists, the website cautions.
Was there a sonic boom heard on the Treasure Coast?
People across the Treasure Coast reported hearing the sonic boom at around 1:45 a.m.
More: Space X sonic boom heard across the Treasure Coast during Cape Canaveral launch Thursday
More: Did that loud boom shake your house Thursday morning? Here's what it was
The Vero Beach Police Department received one phone call regarding the sonic boom. at 1:47 a.m., according to Police Chief David Currey.
The sonic boom was created by the launch of NASA's PACE spacecraft atop a Falcon 9 spacecraft. The PACE spacecraft, armed with a hyperspectral imaging radiometer and two polarimeters, is NASA's most advanced ocean-color-detecting mission to date, NASA spokesperson Katherine Rohloff said during a Sunday news conference.
Has there ever been an earthquake on the Treasure Coast?
After a 7.7 magnitude earthquake was reported Jan. 28, 2020, in the Caribbean Sea between Jamaica and Cuba, several people self-reported feeling it. On Geological Survey website, people reported feeling the tremor in Fort Pierce, Port St. Lucie, Vero Beach and Stuart.
One meteorologist reported documented seismic activity in Martin County.
Staff writer Rick Neale contributed to this report.
Gianna Montesano is TCPalm’s trending reporter. You can contact her at gianna.montesano@tcpalm.com, 772-409-1429, or follow her on X (formerly Twitter) @gonthescene.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Sonic boom, earthquakes rattle the Florida's east coast
