Los Angeles: A "meteor" that tore across the Los Angeles skyline set Twitter alight with speculation it was a real life "Deep Impact".
A bright orange fireball that arced over Hollywood -- home of countless disaster movies -- sent people scrambling to capture the scene for social media -- even if it later turned out to be more fiction than fact.
"Anyone else just see the Meteor over LA?", one person wrote on Twitter. "Incredible. Coolest thing I've seen."
#Breaking: Wingsuit jumpers spotted falling over in #California in the #US with sparks, sparked reactions over social media of "meteor or space debris falling, of #UFO crashing" over Los Angeles #LA Video Credit: @dennishegstad pic.twitter.com/Ny6z6yvuvJ
— Sotiri Dimpinoudis (@sotiridi) March 21, 2019
"Anyone else see a giant meteor or fireball in the middle of downtown Los Angeles like a few minutes ago? It looked like a meteor but it was WAY too low to the ground," wrote Kasey Clark.
The Los Angeles Police Department weighed in to calm people's nerves with a Public Service Announcement, and remind them that theirs is the city of fantasy and dreams.
"PSA: A meteor did not crash into Downtown Los Angeles, and no, it's not an alien invasion ... just a film shoot. This is Tinseltown after all," the LAPD wrote on Twitter.
The phenomenon was a publicity stunt by Red Bull, which fitted skydivers with LEDs and pyrotechnics as they plunged out of a helicopter 4,000 feet (1,200 meters) above the city.
Still -- for a few moments at least -- the people of Los Angeles were allowed to dream.
"Is Captain Marvel back?" wrote Twitter user @MightyMisterX.
