Fireballs
Spring is "fireball" season when a 30 percent increase in meteors is observed around earth, and Monday night's reports of a fireball over the Bay Area are exactly what NASA and astronomers hope to track.
"Forrest L" in Concord reported to the American Meteor Society, "This was the brightest meteor I can recall having seen. It passed about a hand span or two from the moon and seemed brighter. I could not tell if it 'burned out' or disappeared behind the clouds. My first sight of it was directly overhead, and fully bright, not faded-in as most meteors do, so I believe it started behind me. It moved much faster than an airplane."
"Greg M" in Martinez wrote in, "I ran into the house to tell everyone to get away from the windows."
Some reported hearing a sound, while most others heard nothing, but many saw a burning trail of cosmic debris.
NASA's Alex Kasprak writing for Science@NASA and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center explains the March-April "Fireball Season" saying, "The reason why is still unknown, but one hypothesis is that more space debris litters this section of Earth's orbit. In search of the answer, NASA scientists set up a network of ground cameras that track and record video of meteors flaming overhead. The footage can be used to pinpoint a meteor's orbit and origin. Watch the video to learn more."
Astronomer David Lane, director of the observatory at Saint Mary's University in Halifax, said it was likely a bright meteor called a fireball.
He said that while they are not rare, they do usually pass by in the middle of the night when most people are sleeping.
Concerned members of the public reported someone in trouble at about 9.20pm last night.
Maryport Coastguard Rescue Team was dispatched to the area, between Workington and the Isle of Whithorn, where members took up various observation points while Workington lifeboat was dispatched to carry out a search.
A spokesman for the coastguard said: "After a thorough search of the area and enquiries made - as well as receiving more reports from other parts of the country reporting lights in the sky - it was decided that the sighting was probably a meteor."
Locals reported seeing bright lights just before 19:00 EET (17:00 GMT) followed by rumbles and smoke, according to Novinite's Bulgarian-language website.
Some witnesses claim the fireball looked "the size of a washing machine" while making its way downwards.
Comment: In the same night there were also sightings in Central Europe and Cumbria. The day before fireballs were seen at Scotland and Ireland.
This spectacular picture shows the 'fluke' moment a fireball meteor was pictured soaring over the Loch Ness last night.
Gobsmacked John Macdonald, 42, went for a walk at 9pm when he snapped the rare sight lighting up the sky.
The meteor was so bright it would have terrified Nessie and even caused panicked locals to phone the coastguard after mistaking it for a distress flare.

There were reported sightings of the fireball in Austria, France, Switzerland and Germany.
The video, which was filmed using a car's dashboard camera, shows the fireball streaking across the sky above a road in the Tyrol region of Austria.
There were also reported sightings in eastern France, Germany and Switzerland.
The exact nature of the object is not yet known, but it can be seen glowing brightly as it makes its way through the sky before disappearing.
Comment: Another fireball reported on the same night - Numerous reports of meteors over Ireland and Scotland
Maga Moate, co.westmeath, Ireland 21:00:00 5-6 seconds N-S. Very bright orange with a green tail, very close like firework, slow moving Brighter than Venus. No fragments. No pictures.
15MAR2015
Jamie MacEwan aka Jamie Groobel. Screwtop Fulton, Amisfield, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. Approx 20.59 GMt 2-ish seconds South East towards North west. Orange ball followed by a bunson burner effect tail: yellow surrounded by pale blue/ white. Almost like a car headlight at full beam at 400 metres No. I have seen fragmentation once before. I thought that experience would never be topped (2012 - unreported). I feel as if I am in a state of shock. I watched an object travelling east to west in the small hours of the morning on a clear, crisp morning in the spring of 2012 whilst driving an HGV across the A66 from Scotch Corner to Kendal. On that occasion the Orange ball split into around 4 pieces in way that I can only describe as like a rocket breaking apart. Tonight it was not like that -'around 2 or so seconds then it appeared to 'burn out'. Incredible!!

Nate Hershey, a Colorado software engineer, shared a video of the Colorado Meteor that he caught on his dash cam on March 11, 2015.
More than 60 eyewitnesses filed sightings on the American Meteor Society's website.
Greg Moore, an analyst and contributor at Weather5280, told Mashable he was driving over the top of Vail pass, west of Denver, just before 6 a.m. local time when "a bright green fireball caught my eye."
The object had a "flaming tail with a long trail behind it," Moore said. "As it moved towards the far horizon it started to flame out, but even after the tail was gone a bright orange ball was still visible till it disappeared beyond the far mountain range."
"It was pretty incredible," he said.
Snapchat user Joel Jimenez sent Mashable video he caught from a Home Depot parking lot in Fort Collins.
Brian Paulson, a software engineer, caught the fireball on his car's dash cam while driving about 15 miles north of Pueblo, Colorado. A second man caught it on his dash cam from Denver.
Eight fires in sometimes very remote places have Department of Conservation staff investigating whether the meteor which flashed across the New Zealand sky on the evening of February 11 was to blame.
DoC Whanganui services manager George Taylor said in some cases trees were burned right down to stumps, which was unusual.
Fires at Parinui and Tangahoe were among those fought near the Whanganui River last month. The three latest fires, reported on March 3, were even more remote - one was 5km from the river and the other two were west at Matemateaonga.
Kelly O'Neill farms at Pipiriki and DoC have been using his property to land firefighting helicopters.
He talked to DoC staff there who were pretty convinced the falling meteor of February 11 caused at least some of the fires.
Mr O'Neill saw the meteor himself, around 10pm that night.
"It made a massive big flash in the sky - it was there for about a second, and headed over in that direction."
The meteor was a very bright type called a fireball, said David Britten, the astronomy educator at Auckland's Stardome.
It was probably the size of a football or two and travelling south to north across the country. It could have been debris from an asteroid, comet, moon or planet.
Callers flooded 720 ABC Perth's Morning program claiming to have seen the celestial event in locations ranging from Gidgegannup, on Perth's eastern outskirts, to Margaret River in the South West.
Talkback callers described seeing an intense white light flashing across the sky about 9:15am.
"I was just going over the Mount Henry Bridge [in Perth]... and there was this silver, sort of shooting thing that came down and just vaporised in a burst over the river," caller Gillian said.
Hilary was driving on the South West Highway near Binningup when she saw the object.
"A silver thing flashed at an angle - not like it was gravity, but going as though it was propelled into the ground," she said.
ABC gardening expert Sabrina Hahn said she thought someone had been letting off fireworks.
"It was a really, really intense bright light. It was incredible because it was such an intense light," she said.
Comment: The 'expert' doesn't know what he's talking about... this happened just two weeks ago:
Daytime meteor fireball blazes over Melbourne, Australia - 25 February 2015
Comment: Perseids, Lyrids, Geminids, Leonids, Draconids, Orionids, Aquarids, Taurids -Meteor showers in 2015