Sighting in Le Tampon, May 16, 2023
La Réunion, France
Sighting on May 16, 2023 in Le Tampon (La Réunion, France). GEIPAN identified the phenomenon with certainty: it was an animal or natural object (bird, insect, pollen…) (class A).
What happened
The witness was walking around the Notre-Dame de la Paix viewpoint on Réunion Island, taking photos with their smartphone. Only afterwards did they notice a dark spot on one of the pictures, which they had not seen at the time and which they took to be an unidentified aerospace phenomenon (UAP).
The GEIPAN investigation concluded that the witness had most likely photographed an animal, either an insect, a bird or a butterfly. The most probable explanation was Neptis dumetorum, a butterfly endemic to Réunion, flying fast very close to the lens. About 2 cm long, this butterfly closely resembles the object in the photo in both shape and color. The case was classified A: it was very probably a butterfly.
Account rewritten by SkyUnknown from the investigation report published by GEIPAN (CNES). The original text and case documents are on the official record.
- Date
- May 16, 2023
- Location
- Le Tampon · town centre
- Type of sighting
- From the ground
- Source classification
- A
- Explanation
- Birds, insects, nature
Sources
- See the original document
GEIPAN (CNES)
n° 2023-05-51440
Summary written by SkyUnknown from the facts published by the source.