The bright flash and trail of a meteor across the night sky was seen across Tasmania on Sunday.
A traffic camera from Launceston, in the state's north, captured the event just before 9:30pm. The bright light was also seen in southern parts of Tasmania.
"The object flashed a few times as it was coming down, almost certainly because it was breaking up and the light sort of came and went and left a bit of a trail," said Martin George, the principal astronomer of the Ulverstone Planetarium at Hive Tasmania.
"This is very typical of an object burning up in the atmosphere, a natural object."
Just as it faces an annual hurricane season and tornado season, North America is also experiencing an annual "fireball season," according to NASA.
"From February through April, the appearance rate of these very bright meteors can increase by as much as 10 percent to 30 percent, especially around the weeks of the March equinox," NASA explained in a statement in late March.
"Exactly why is not known. Some astronomers think the Earth passes through more large debris at this time of year, causing an uptick in fireball sightings."
But the relatively regular peak season appears to have been unusually active this year.
A fireball was seen streaking across the sky in Puerto Rico on Tuesday, May 5.
This footage captured by Frankie Lucena shows the bright meteor over Cabo Rojo.
Lucena said that the fireball was part of the Eta Aquarid meteor shower, which peaked on Tuesday and into Wednesday morning. Credit: Frankie Lucena via Storyful
