Red lights in Vaucluse, France

On Saturday, December 17, 2016, at around 8:45 p.m., a witness is intrigued by the silent movement of a very bright orange-red light in the sky. The light disappears quickly, but the witness had time to take a photo. Only one testimony will be collected. The witness probably observed a Thai lantern. The description he gives of what he sees with the naked eye is consistent. Moreover, it is a weekend evening, always more conducive to a festive lantern release event. The wind measured on Infoclimat is weak and consistent with the impression of slow movement of the UAP. The strangeness noted by the witness and probably at the origin of his testimony (moreover a considered one, since it was late, more than a month after): it stems from the observation of his photo which shows an orange arabesque. This is classic and results from a motion blur effect. The photo was taken with a long exposure (4 seconds) and the witness moved before the end. On the photo there is a strong central bright point corresponding to the stable period of the shot, followed by the motion blur effect producing a light intensity inversely proportional to the speed of movement (the faster the lantern passes in front of the detector pixels, the less these are "exposed"). The fact that this blur does not appear on the other bright points in the photo (likely stars) is explained by the fact that these points are far less bright to begin with and only manage to "expose" the detector pixels during the stable period, and pass too quickly in front of the other detector pixels during the blur phase. The fact that the lantern is no longer present in the sky after the photo is pure coincidence; the lantern went out. The fact that the witness describes the UAP's movement in his viewfinder suggests that he then took a little time to look at the finished photo on his viewfinder before looking back at the sky; the near-simultaneity between photo and disappearance may not be as clear-cut, although it is also possible. Consequently, GEIPAN classifies the case as B: Thai lantern.