Researchers recorded an increase in the number of 'fireballs' heading to Earth in March — all originating from the same extensive area.
From February to April, the bolide season lasts — a period when Earth seems to move through a slightly denser field of debris, leading to the appearance of extremely bright meteors streaking across the sky. However, this year the phenomenon has become particularly noticeable — reports of a 'shower' of meteors have already emerged in Europe and the USA — and some astronomers claim that there is an unexplained increase in activity, writes Focus.
In the past few weeks, researchers have recorded a bolide over Germany, where meteors fell on a roof; over France and Spain; a bolide in Ohio; two bolides in one day over California; one over Michigan; one over Georgia; and one over Texas, where a melon-sized meteorite fell on a house in Houston.
But can such a situation be considered unusual? Probably not, yet not everyone is convinced of this. Some researchers believe that something additional is also occurring this bolide season. According to an analysis by the American Meteor Society (AMS), the first three months of 2026 are likely to be anomalous compared to previous years.
Based on the trajectories suggested by witnesses, there is an increase in the number of bolides from the same area of the sky, the so-called antihelion — that is, from the direction opposite to the Sun. Additionally, scientists have recorded an increase in the number of loud events, which are indicators of the mass and size of the bolides. For example, 30 out of 38 reported events were accompanied by a sonic boom. The number of registered mass observations was also higher than in previous years. Although the total number of events appears to slightly exceed the average, the number of events with more than 50 witnesses and events with more than 100 witnesses has doubled.
The report also notes that the effect goes beyond the activity of the bolide season and, as scientists claim, has no geographical bias, as bolides have been reported in both Europe and North America. However, some astronomers and other experts disagree with this conclusion.
On the other hand, NASA experts also agree that this year we are observing an increase in the number of actual events. At the same time, during the same period in 2025, there were many more energetic events compared to the last three months.
