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SYFY WIRE aliens

Was this 'meteor' part of an alien invasion? Nope, just another day in L.A.

By Josh Grossberg
Red Bull Air Force supermoon event

War of the Worlds this was not.

A fireball streaked across the sky over Los Angeles Wednesday night and set Twitter ablaze with people posting videos of the sighting and wondering if it was an alien invasion. But it did, in fact, have human origins, the LAPD and LAFD confirm.

As it happens, the so-called "meteor" was really two wingsuit flyers lit up by the Red Bull Air Force that was brought to you by the energy-drink company as part of a "Supermoon" promotional stunt.

Skywriting is so 20th century.

Of course, SYFY WIRE's resident science writer and in-house astronomer, Phil Plait, was on the case pretty quickly.

The light show did stir up online chatter that something big might be in the offing, like maybe a real-life Captain Marvel entrance.

But in the end, despite human cravings for all things celestial, there was a simple earthly explanation behind the fireball — not unlike reports about aliens over Queens that turned New York City's skyline green a few months back, but that turned out to be a blown transformer.

Astronomy fans will be fascinated to learn, however, that U.S. scientists are now reporting that a massive planetary event much, much bigger than Wednesday's Supermoon did, in fact, occur in December. According to USA Today, a meteor exploded over the Bering Sea between Russia and Alaska, unleashing the energy equivalent of 10 atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and went largely unnoticed until now.

Beat that, Red Bull.