Sighting in Elne, December 25, 2023

At around 7:15 pm on Christmas evening, two witnesses were on the terrace of their home when they noticed two white lights, steady and motionless, below the planet Jupiter, toward the south-southeast. After one to two minutes, the lights gradually went out. Only one of the two witnesses contacted the GEIPAN. A regular sky observer, they supplied precise details: date, time, azimuth, elevation and the apparent position of Jupiter. Their sketch showed both Jupiter and the Albères massif, which made it possible to estimate the azimuth at about 140° with good reliability.

The investigation looked at three possibilities: satellite flashes, aircraft landing lights and luminous balloons. The point-like shape and white color fit all three. However, the duration, which was vague and never clarified despite the investigator's follow-up requests, is too long for a satellite or debris flash. The prolonged stillness makes aircraft landing lights unlikely, especially since such lights were shown to move across the witnesses' view and at a much lower elevation. None of the three hypotheses could therefore be confirmed, although the Christmas period lends itself to festive lights in the sky.

The GEIPAN classified the case as C, unidentified phenomenon due to insufficient data, because of the low strangeness, the lack of independent witnesses, the silence of the second witness, the absence of photos or video, and imprecisions in the account, especially about the duration.