Fireballs Awe Early November Skywatchers

saskboy writes "NASA reports that an unusual number of fireball meteor sightings have been reported recently, possibly due to the larger number of people being outside for Halloween trick or treating, and others looking for the highly visible planet Mars while it's in the planetary neighborhood. From the article: "On Oct. 30, for example, Bill Plaskon of Jonesport, Maine, was 'observing Mars through a 10-inch telescope at 10:04 p.m. EST when a brilliant fireball lit up the sky and left a short corkscrew-like smoke trail that lasted about 1 minute.' The physical cause of the fireballs in the sky are likely the Taurid meteor shower. According to the International Meteor Organization, the Taurid shower peaks between Nov. 5th and Nov. 12th. 'Earth takes a week or two to traverse the swarm. This comparatively long duration means you don't get spectacular outbursts like a Leonid meteor storm,' rather closer to 'one every few hours.'" These meteor sightings have also, of course, sparked UFO speculation.