An account in Essonne, France

A witness observes an intense light in the sky, elongated, light in color with a slight orange tint, imitating the reflection of the sunset on an airplane fuselage. The luminous point is visible for a long time. The observation of an orange luminous shape due West shortly after sunset clearly suggests an object at altitude illuminated by the setting sun. The planet Venus is located further South than the direction indicated by the witness, and should appear circular and white, rather than elongated and orange. A distant airplane contrail (between 40 and 80 km) from a plane flying at 12,000m 50 km from Paris, from South to North could have given this impression. Due to the distance, these contrails appear very small, and seem almost motionless. When the sun moves below the horizon, these contrails then become invisible. See on this subject Strange airplane contrails. This case is classified "B" probable observation of an airplane contrail.