Sighting in Le Châtelard, October 5, 2017

At 1:30 p.m., a witness lying on the ground during a sports exercise, specifically a quiet breathing exercise, saw a white, opaque ball pass quickly from west to east. The speed of the object took them by surprise. They noticed no trail left in the sky and heard no sound. The sighting lasted between 15 and 20 seconds. Only one account of the event was collected.

The investigation considered the passage of a bolide, meaning a very bright meteor, but found no formal trace of one. Daytime bolides are harder to see, and some are known only from cameras or radar without anyone having reported seeing them. The witness's lying position and calm state probably helped the observation. The description could fit a bolide, but the stated duration seems long and would have required clarification. The witness did not respond to the request to fill in the GEIPAN questionnaire, so GEIPAN could not explore this hypothesis or any other. The case was classified C: insufficient data, owing to a lack of reliable information.