If you happened to look up at the sky at around 5.30pm in California on Friday, you would probably have been very confused, and perhaps a little alarmed.

That is, unless you take an interest in what SpaceX, a company that “designs, manufactures and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft”, gets up to.

The company, whose CEO is Elon Musk, launched a rocket to propel 10 satellites into orbit for communications firm Iridium, but the result was like something out of a science fiction film.

Many took to Twitter to share their reaction to the sunset illuminations.

Although not everybody was impressed.

Meanwhile, Musk himself had fun with some of the rumours.

SpaceX tweeted throughout the process, proclaiming it to be a success.

A statement on SpaceX’s website read: “On Friday, December 22nd at 5:27 p.m. PST, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 successfully lifted off from Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, carrying the Iridium-4 mission to orbit.

“This was the fourth set of 10 satellites in a series of 75 total satellites that SpaceX will launch for Iridium’s next generation global satellite constellation, Iridium NEXT.”

Furthermore, Musk tweeted that there will be more coming next month.

Just make sure everybody knows it’s not aliens next time please, Elon.