Sighting in Loon-Plage, June 1, 2013
Nord, Hauts-de-France, France
Sighting on June 1, 2013 in Loon-Plage (Nord, France). According to GEIPAN, it was most probably a sky lantern (class B).
What happened
Shortly after midnight, several people watched a dozen very bright, orange-yellow glowing balls drift silently across the sky. They appeared one after another and moved slowly. The witness had never seen anything like it before.
After looking at videos and photos of Thai lanterns, the witness recognised the phenomenon. The description fits these objects very well. A wedding had taken place about 600 m away, and the lanterns could have been released there.
One point did not fit: the Météociel record showed a light west to north-west wind, while the balls were moving rather toward the east. However, a north-east wind was recorded at Boulogne, and coastal winds are often complex, with direction changing according to altitude. Taking everything into account, the GEIPAN classified the case as B, a probable observation of Thai lanterns. The low strangeness of the case meant no field investigation was needed.
Account rewritten by SkyUnknown from the investigation report published by GEIPAN (CNES). The original text and case documents are on the official record.
- Date
- June 1, 2013
- Location
- Loon-Plage · town centre
- Type of sighting
- From the ground
- Source classification
- B
- Explanation
- Sky lanterns
Sources
- See the original document
GEIPAN (CNES)
n° 2013-06-08466
Summary written by SkyUnknown from the facts published by the source.