本周，德国上空陆续出现一些巨型火球，并由此引发了大量与不明飞行物有关的报道，但科学家们相信，这些看似奇怪的现象不过是每年均会发生的流星雨而已。

    据路透社11月4日报道，很多德国人都已经注意到了这些火球，居住在该国曼海姆市的一位业余天文学家沃纳·沃尔特说：“有人最近一次目睹火球的报道发生在3日下午7：30分，地点位于德国与荷兰边境附近。本周，许多人都称看到了火球。有些人表示它们看上去像是科幻恐怖电影里的镜头。

    沃尔特说：“除了可能是一群流星掠过天空这一种解释外，一些专业天文学家也表示这些闪烁而过的火球也有可能是坠落中的人造卫星或UFO，但目前尚无法加以确认和解释。”

    按照美国航空航天局的说法，在世界上其它地方也出现过火球的现象。美国航空航天局提到最近发生在美国、加拿大、荷兰、北爱尔兰以及日本等地的火球现象，还刊登出拍摄到的部分照片。有人描述这些体形超大且五彩斑斓的火球以闪电般的速度从天空中呼啸而过。北爱尔兰阿尔马天文台的流星专家戴维·阿舍尔表示，人们看到的火球可能是金牛座流星雨，这种流星雨往往会在每年10月底到11月初这段时间里出现。

    Numerous sightings of massive fireballs in the skies over Germany this week have led to an upsurge in reports of UFOs, but scientists believe the cause could be a bizarre annual meteor blitz.

    According to the Web site of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA), such fireballs have been reported elsewhere in the world and may also be due to the fact that the Earth is now orbiting through a swarm of space debris.

    Many people in Germany have noticed the fireballs, said Werner Walter, an amateur astronomer in Mannheim who runs a Web site on unexplained astronomical phenomena and a hotline for reports on unidentified flying objects (UFO).

    "The last reported sighting was yesterday at 7:30 p.m. (1830 GMT) in a corridor near the border of the Netherlands," he told Reuters in a telephone interview.

    "This week we have had at least 15 emails and phone calls from people reporting these fireballs," he said. "Some people said it looks like something out of a science fiction horror film."

    In addition to a possible meteor streak, Walter said amateur and professional astronomers were considering the possibility that the blitz was the result of a "falling satellite or UFOs."

    "It is possible that they are UFOs, which are after all things which we cannot explain," he said.

    NASA's science Web site (http://science.nasa.gov) mentions reports of recent fireball sightings in the United States, Canada, the Netherlands, North Ireland and Japan. It includes images of the fireballs, which one man likened to a spotlight.

    Walter described them as "super-large, colored fireballs that shoot with the speed of lightning through the sky."

    However, the NASA Web site quotes meteor expert David Asher from the Armagh Observatory in Northern Ireland as saying that people "are probably seeing the Taurid meteor shower."

    Taurids are meteors that shoot out of the constellation Taurus, which peaks at the end of October and early November.