Sighting in Lançon-Provence, December 19, 2015

At 8:17 pm, a witness, alerted by their son, saw in the distance a large, slightly ovoid ball of very bright, flickering orange light. It moved across the sky toward the witness. They then made out a broad "V" shape with small, evenly spaced lights, and took three photographs. The object passed directly overhead without any sound, on a straight path, then climbed slightly as it moved away. Its brightness faded until it disappeared. The son, for his part, had seen three separate phenomena. Only one witness statement was collected.

GEIPAN considered that orange balls crossing the sky over a few minutes on a weekend night, close to the end-of-year holidays, strongly suggest Thai lanterns, probably released nearby after a private party. The movement, seen from the southwest, fits the wind recorded at Salon-de-Provence (110° sector, 6 to 11 km/h, according to Infoclimat). The only usable photo is out of focus, as is common at night, and shows only a blurry orange circle; it nonetheless confirms the phenomenon was real, and its color matches that of such lanterns. The witness's distance estimate, based on their aeronautical experience, cannot be accurate, since they had never seen this kind of object. Because these lanterns are inherently dim, they seem much farther away, and so larger and faster, than they really are. Their steady movement is normal for objects carried by a light wind, and releasing them one after another produces a line of lights. The case was classified B: probable observation of Thai lanterns.