Sighting in Fontaine, December 27, 2016

At midnight, the only witness was in the bedroom of their fourth-floor apartment in a residential building. Toward the northeast, at roughly 75° above the horizon, they noticed a round, orange light, "like a star", with a brightness comparable to a celestial body. The witness first thought of a gendarmerie or civil-protection helicopter, but saw no flashing red or green lights.

The light moved silently at a moderate speed, along a path generally heading east and north. The witness lost sight of it in the northeast at about 60° elevation, after one and a half minutes of observation. They stressed the lack of noise, the orange color, and a path that seemed to them to turn "almost at a right angle". No photo or video was taken, and since there was only one witness, the consistency of the case remains average.

The investigation favored the hypothesis of a sky lantern: the spherical shape, orange color, slow and silent movement and short visibility time are typical of such an object. Weather data point to weak, locally variable winds across the Grenoble area, which does not rule out a lantern drifting, even though the witness felt no wind at home. The impression of a right angle could be explained by a slight change in the local air current or by a perspective effect. No trace of a lantern release was found, however. GEIPAN classified the case as B: probably a sky lantern.