Sighting in La Turballe, December 22, 2024

At around 11:24 pm, the witness was in their garden when a luminous phenomenon appeared to the northeast, at an estimated elevation of 35° to 45° above the horizon. They described it as a "blazing band" of orange and yellow, like a cascade of fire pouring toward the ground. The sky was completely clear and the sighting lasted only a few seconds. A few minutes later, the witness phoned the gendarmerie. They also recorded, on their mobile phone, the GPS coordinates of where they stood and the azimuth of the direction in which they had seen the phenomenon.

The witness later sent the GEIPAN a completed technical questionnaire, along with a screenshot of those readings, a photograph of the site showing the orientation of the phenomenon, and a drawing of the scene made over a photograph of the location. The case rests on a single account with no photo or video, but its consistency was rated good because the description and location data were very precise.

The investigation found that the witness had seen a bolide, which was observed at the same time that evening across northwestern France. The International Meteor Organization received 73 reports, and four cameras of the FRIPON network recorded it. The meteoroid came from the main asteroid belt and measured roughly 15 to 20 cm, with a mass of about 20 kilograms. It entered the atmosphere at about 13.6 km/s over the Mayenne department, heading northeast on a shallow trajectory (18°). It fragmented and burned out after travelling more than 140 km. The witness was positioned along the line of the bolide's path as it moved away, which explains the orange and yellow cascade effect, heightened by the fragmentation and gradual fading. The case was classified A: observation of a bolide.