Sighting in Maulde, January 5, 2026

A witness watched a luminous phenomenon in the sky for about 33 minutes, between 4:12 and 4:45 a.m. local time. They were at home in open countryside, at an open window, and looked first with the naked eye and then through binoculars. Five videos were recorded with a smartphone held behind the binoculars. Another person was present but did not want to fill in the GEIPAN questionnaire. The witness found the phenomenon strange because they had been unable to identify it, despite their own searches.

It appeared as a succession of light points, mostly orange, whose brightness varied. They showed up in the east (azimuth about 80 to 90°), at most around 20° above the horizon, within a patch of sky 10 to 20° across. They moved slowly and steadily, mostly downward, and some seemed to cross paths. No noise was heard, and thermal binoculars detected no thermal signature. The videos showed two trajectories, one clearly slanting down to the left and the other very slightly slanting down to the right, with 13 points in total, each visible for 9 to 41 seconds. Some vanished during the footage.

The investigation first ruled out Starlink flares, since their duration and the elevation at which the lights appeared did not fit. It settled on sky lanterns: point-like shape, orange color, flickering flame, a large number consistent with a mass release, straight trajectories, a compatible lifespan, and going out when the fuel ran out. AROME weather data from Météo-France explained the two trajectories: winds blew from the south-southwest near the ground up to about 100 m, and from the west-southwest or west at 750 to 1000 m. The case was classified A.