Sighting in Bolide — Toulouse, August 2, 2011

Between 3:27 and 3:35 a.m., on the night of 1 to 2 August, several dozen people spread across southern France saw the sky suddenly light up as if it were broad daylight. An object then crossed the sky in 4 to 5 seconds; it was often described as green or blue. A few seconds after it passed, some witnesses heard one or two explosions, and a few reported that it broke up.

Around fifty witnesses, located in Ariège, Aveyron, Aude, Gironde, Haute-Garonne, Tarn and Tarn-et-Garonne, contacted the GEIPAN and gave precise accounts. The preliminary data point to a north-south trajectory, shifted slightly from east to west. The bolide appears to have ended its path in a triangular area between Andorra, Carcassonne and Perpignan.

Scientists at the IMCCE identified the phenomenon as a bolide, meaning an object entering the atmosphere. The GEIPAN classified the case as A: identified.