An orange orb in Val-d'Oise, France

On December 24, 2015 at 11:48 PM, a witness observed in the sky the silent movement of a bright red point surrounded by a red halo, following a straight path below the cloud mass. The witness took two photos. When the object passed overhead, he estimated its approximate size as that of a car. The phenomenon disappeared behind the trees, after crossing the sky in two minutes. Only one testimony was collected. The observation of an orange ball crossing the sky in a few minutes, on a holiday night, strongly suggests a Thai lantern, probably released nearby for Christmas. The movement was observed from the southwest to the northeast, which is consistent with the southwest wind recorded at Asnières-sur-Oise (Weather data: light southwest wind consistent with the movement: Weather at Asnières-sur-Oise and sustained southwest wind recorded at Creil, consistent with the movement: Météociel: wind at Creil. Sustained southeast wind at Roissy, not consistent with the movement: Météociel Roissy. The photos are consistent with this hypothesis: characteristic "fire" color. GEIPAN classifies this case "B" probable observation of a Thai lantern. The witness, informed of this Thai lantern hypothesis, does not accept this hypothesis. The observation report is nevertheless entirely consistent with a Thai lantern observation: horizontal and straight movement of a bright point with a red or orange halo, in a direction identical to the local wind, on a holiday evening. As always in this type of case, the distance and speed of the phenomenon are overestimated by the witness due to the low intrinsic brightness of lantern burners, compared to aircraft lights.