Sighting in Monéteau, August 26, 2016

On a Friday evening at 10:39 pm, a witness and their spouse watched three orange lights pass silently across a clear night sky, moving from the northwest toward the southeast. The lights were arranged in a triangle and looked about the size of a golf ball held at arm's length. They then disappeared behind the trees in the landscape. The sighting reportedly lasted about 5 seconds. Only one account was collected. The witness also had the impression that a solid surface joined the three points of light, and that stars were hidden as the lights went by.

The investigation concluded that the witnesses very probably saw Thai lanterns. Releases are common on summer evenings, especially at weekends, and such lanterns often form a triangle of orange glows. The wind, recorded 4 km away, was from the north, which fits a drift from northwest to southeast. The duration seems short, but the field of view was limited: roughly 30 to 40° between the house, to the south, and tall trees about ten metres away to the north. This remains consistent with lanterns flying at low altitude, provided the wind speed or the duration was overestimated by a factor of 2 or more. As for the solid surface, this is a classic effect at night: the eye fills the gap between points of light. The detail about hidden stars seems hard to confirm given how quick the sighting was, and the witness did not mention it at first. GEIPAN classified the case as B: probable sighting of Thai lanterns.