An account in Ardennes, France

On Saturday 30 August 2008 at 11:45 PM, a witness is looking at the stars with the naked eye when his attention is quickly drawn to the presence, vertically slightly to the left, of a yellow ball surrounded by glitter of all colors. He observes it with binoculars and notes that it is a yellow ball with lights of all colors located inside the ball on its inner part. At the start of his observation, this ball is stationary. This lasts two to three seconds. It then moves very slowly before picking up speed. It first moves horizontally, then begins a diagonal descent until he loses sight of it because facing his home is the Montcy-Notre-Dame forest. He steps away for ten seconds to go to the toilet. His friend, who is present, calls him to let him know that the ball has returned to its original starting point at the time of its first appearance. It repeats exactly the same path, then disappears behind the forested area. The witness's observation (yellow ball), the movement consistent with the slight prevailing wind (west) recorded that day on Météociel, the time and day of the week (Saturday evening), and the presence of a festival nearby (Le Cabaret Vert) are compatible with the observation of several Thai lanterns. Indeed, the colors observed as well as the glitter can be explained by the observation of the burner (flickering) and the lantern envelope, which are of different colors; the impression that the ball returned to the same spot following the interruption of observation is probably due to the presence of a second lantern following the same air current. Moreover, at that time lanterns were less widespread; the year 2008 marks the beginning of observations (see case LANTERNS 03.05.2008 on the GEIPAN website). In conclusion, probable observation of Thai lanterns.