Bouches-du-Rhône, France · 2015-12-19 · from the GEIPAN archive
On December 19, 2015 at 8:17 PM, a witness alerted by his son observes from a distance a large slightly ovoid ball sparkling with a very bright orange. This ball moves through the sky toward the witness. The latter then distinguishes a widened "V" profile with small lights regularly spaced between them, and he takes three photographs. The object passes directly above them without any noise being heard. The trajectory is straight, then takes a slight upward slope as it moves away; the UAP loses light intensity and eventually disappears. The witness's son saw three distinct phenomena. Only one testimony will be collected. The observation of orange balls crossing the sky in a few minutes, on a weekend night, clearly suggests Thai lanterns, probably released nearby at the end of a private party approaching the year-end holidays. The movement is observed from the southwest, which is consistent with the southwest wind recorded at Salon de Provence: the Infoclimat reading indicates a wind from sector 110° at 6 to 11 km/h. The witness's only usable photo turns out to be out of focus (focus blur, very common in night photos under these conditions) and shows only a blurred orange circle. It does however prove the reality of the phenomenon, and the color of the phenomenon is entirely consistent with that of Thai lanterns. The distance estimate made by the witness based on his aeronautical experience cannot be accurate since he has never seen this type of object. Because Thai lanterns are intrinsically dim (a large candle flame), they are always perceived as much farther away than they are, and therefore seem much larger and faster than they really are. See Estimating the size and distance of an unknown phenomenon. The very regular movement of the objects in the sky is entirely normal for an object carried by a light wind. Since lanterns are often released one after another, after the same delay corresponding to the time needed to light the burner, the result is an organized line of flying lights. Due to their low intrinsic brightness, Thai lanterns, intuitively compared to aircraft lights, are most often interpreted by witnesses as much farther away than they really are, and therefore much faster. GEIPAN classifies this case "B": probable observation of Thai lanterns.
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the accounts read alike, found by meaning rather than by shared details
On April 28, 2014 at 10 p.m., a couple in a car is intrigued by about ten luminous points in the sky. Yellow-orange balls move silently toward the south. The observation lasts 3 minutes befo…
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On July 6, 2015 at 10:45 PM, two people observed the passage of multiple bright points in the sky (between 15 and 20). These points, pink-orange in color, were in a line and moved silently i…
the accounts read alike, found by meaning rather than by shared details
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This is an official case file of GEIPAN, the French space agency's unidentified aerospace phenomena office, machine translated from French. The original text and the full investigation file are at geipan.fr. We reproduce it with thanks and remove anything on request.
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