According to NASA scientists, spring is fireball season - the time of year when a higher than normal number of large meteors enter Earth's atmosphere, burning brighter than the planets as they crash to the ground (earning them the name "fireballs"). The reason for the uptick in fireballs in the spring is a mystery, but it means more falling balls of fire are caught on film this season than other times of the year. Here are a few of the biggest and brightest.
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">{youtube Y5eBXeLtQ8Q}</p> <p class="MsoNormal">This fireball streaked across the daytime sky in Central Texas on April 4.
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">{youtube o5WnyUEzrQs}</p> <p class="MsoNormal">A fireball took thousands of people by surprise in New Zealand on April 2.
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">{youtube ojnWnY4ADck}</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Several people filmed a meteor crashing to Earth in Northern England in March.
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">{youtube YN5izARmPHw}</p> <p class="MsoNormal">A blindingly bright meteor streaked through the atmosphere above Iowa in April 2010, as seen in this amazing footage.
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">{youtube pdlRBFX2fa8}</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Another fireball crashed down in North Texas or Oklahoma back in February. A local news anchor points out in this clip, "It definitely looks more like a UFO than a fireball or meteor."
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">{youtube srmXdywTpeA}</p> <p class="MsoNormal">A spring fireball was recorded by a NASA all-sky camera located at the Marshall Space Flight Center in March 2009.
