Chinese rocket sparks alien invasion fears after burning up in sky over Area 51

Americans feared aliens were launching an invasion last night when two bright UFOs surged through skies over the infamous Area 51.

The streaks of light ignited when a Chinese CZ-7 rocket burned up in Earth's atmosphere.

But that didn't stop people taking to social media to claim that ET was about to try and capture our planet.

"I actually thought there was an alien invasion with the comet looking thing from the sky," wrote one man on Twitter.

Another particularly excited chap exclaimed: "That alien comet plane was f******* sick bro."

The rocket entered Earth's atmosphere at 9.36 Pacific Time Utah, California and Nevada, which is home to the mysterious Area 51.

When it was spotted in the skies, the rocket was about 50 miles above ground level.

Although it is not thought to pose a threat, there is a small chance tiny fragments of the spacecraft could crash to Earth.

“Something this big enters in an uncontrolled way probably once a month,” Jonathan McDowell, astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, .

“Mostly they fall into the ocean - the Earth is a big place. The chance that you get one at night, over the U.S. at time when people look at the sky - it is relatively low.”

The rocket was launched into space on June 25. It spent a month speeding around the Earth before meeting its fiery death.