Sighting in Le Pouliguen, July 9, 2014

Over three nights, from 9 to 11 July 2014, one witness recorded many light phenomena in the sky. The first, shortly before midnight on 9 July, was a luminous sphere coming from the south-west that crossed the sky in under a minute. At about the same time, a two-person gendarmerie patrol between Le Pouliguen and Guérande saw something like a shooting star for 2 to 3 seconds. It moved from south to north and split into two parts before going out. About a quarter of an hour later, the witness noticed a flashing white point moving in a straight line.

The following evening, around 11:18 pm, the witness saw a very intense glow that grew gradually and lasted less than 2 seconds. Other sightings followed: a fast luminous ball between clouds, a bright sphere moving west to east and then vanishing, a white light with irregular blinking, two brilliant streaks with a sphere to the west, a flash straight overhead, and then three flashes 5 to 6 seconds apart.

The GEIPAN received the report more than a month after the events, so it could not check with air traffic control. For the first sighting, it favours a bolide, an atmospheric entry of a meteoroid, since the witness and the gendarmes very probably saw the same thing. The flashing point matches a high-altitude aircraft. The brief glow on 10 July suggests a satellite flare, and several other sightings can match satellites or a rocket stage according to Calsky data, or shooting stars. One flash seen overhead remains unexplained. The case is classed B: probable sightings of a bolide, aircraft and satellites.