Sighting in Montpellier, June 29, 2019

At 8:45 p.m., a witness standing on their balcony saw a very bright object cross the sky. It seemed to change shape and/or position, and at times the witness made out points of light on it. It eventually vanished from view, hidden by the surroundings. The witness came up with several hypotheses but remained doubtful. They filmed the object, but the video was of poor quality and could not be used. It was the only testimony collected.

The investigation first considered a bird, a drone or a balloon, and favored the balloon as the best fit for the description. A novelty balloon, possibly partly deflated, can change appearance as the wind moves it. Its highly reflective surface accounts for the chrome color, and the "lights" match areas well oriented toward the sun, giving maximum reflection. However, it could not be confirmed that the sun, very low on the horizon, was actually lighting the balloon. The straight south-to-north path is consistent with a passive object carried by the wind, and the weakness of that wind explains the relatively long observation.

The witness kept a strong sense of strangeness despite their attempts to link the sighting to a known phenomenon. The origin of the balloon's release was not found. GEIPAN classed the case as B: probable observation of a Mylar-type novelty balloon.