Sighting in Haut-Rhin, February 22, 2015

Between 6:45 and 6:55 pm, several people at two different places in the Haut-Rhin saw points of light moving across the sky. One witness had stepped out of their car and heard no noise; another had opened a window and noted the same silence. The first described white lights passing from right to left, toward nearby Germany. The second saw them as orange and rather stationary. Two photos were supplied, both showing motion blur caused by low light and therefore a slow shutter speed.

GEIPAN considered only one hypothesis: Thai lanterns. The context fitted well: the Mulhouse carnival ran from 20 to 22 February, the Basel carnival was due to start at 4 am the next day, carnival season was under way across Alsace and neighboring regions, Chinese New Year was still recent, and a Sunday left room for a private or club celebration. The witnesses' positions suggested the phenomenon was fairly close and at low altitude. The slow movement, the non-geometric formation, the gradual and random disappearance of the lights, their colors and the lack of noise were all consistent with lanterns.

Some points weighed against this. The wind was very light (3 to 5 km/h) and from the southeast, which did not match the direction of travel described by the first witness, and the apparent stillness reported by the second was not a clear fit either. However, such a light wind is unstable and subject to local variation, and the very slow movement does not contradict the hypothesis. No mention was found in the press or on the web, and only two accounts came in although many more people could have seen it. Taking everything into account, GEIPAN classified the case as B: very probably Thai lanterns.