<p><strong>A fireball streaks across the sky north of Reno, <a href="http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/united-states/nevada-guide/">Nevada</a>, in a picture taken Sunday morning by local resident Lisa Warren.</strong></p><p>Part of the 2012 <a href="http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/18apr_lyrids/">Lyrid meteor shower</a>, which peaked this past weekend, the bright object and its resulting sonic boom surprised many in Nevada and <a href="http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/united-states/california-guide/">California</a>, <a href="http://www.space.com/15385-daytime-fireball-california-nevada.html">according to Space.com</a>.</p><p>"There was this light streaking across the sky. I just started snapping pictures and managed to get three frames as it was exploding. It was so bright, we were seeing spots after. I just thought, 'I can't believe I got three pictures of that,'" Warren told the <em><a href="http://www.rgj.com/">Reno Gazette-Journal</a></em>.</p><p>Fireballs are rare, unusually particularly bright meteors. When they do occur, they make "quite a spectacular sight for observers," said Raminder Singh Samra, a resident astronomer at the <a href="http://www.spacecentre.ca/">H.R. MacMillan Space Centre</a> in Vancouver, Canada.</p><p>For stargazers, the <a href="http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/18apr_lyrids/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/04/120419-lyrids-2012-meteor-shower-moon-best-years-space-science/">2012 Lyrid meteor shower was one of the best sky shows in years</a>, peaking as it did on a moonless night. </p><p><em>—With reporting by Andrew Fazekas</em></p>