An account in Marne, France

On August 26, 2011, at around 6 a.m., a witness and his wife were intrigued by the slow movement of a luminous phenomenon on a downward trajectory in the sky. The characteristics of this observation and its duration of two minutes suggest the possibility of the atmospheric re-entry of a satellite or space debris. However, such a phenomenon should have been observed by a large number of witnesses spread over a wide area (northern France, Belgium, the Netherlands), yet we find no trace of it on that date, which suggests a very local phenomenon. The movement consistent with the wind could suggest a group of balloons, but with varied shapes, colors, and light intensities, which does not make it easy to identify the exact type of passive aircraft. Moreover, all the observed objects do not seem to have the same speed, nor to follow the same trajectory, in particular the last luminous point crossing the witness's field of vision at a speed much higher than all the others. Finally, the hypothesis of a civilian or military aerial exercise taking place directly above BA112, about forty kilometers northeast of the observation site (and therefore at 20 degrees from the direction of observation), cannot be ruled out, but it was not possible for us to verify it. This observation case presents a certain strangeness at first glance, but suffers from a lack of precision preventing any firm conclusion. A field investigation aimed at better assessing the trajectories and orientations would provide more information. This case is provisionally classified as C, pending additional information.