Sighting in Moon-sur-Elle, February 20, 2021

At around 07:10, the witness was standing at their front door when an intense white light appeared in the cloudy sky and caught their attention. It moved silently towards the west and lit the ground only over a limited area. A line of hedges then hid it from view, so the sighting lasted just 3 seconds. No other witness account supported it.

The witness described what they had seen precisely, which makes the case consistent. Surprised by such an unusual sight in the early morning, they first thought of a fireball but dismissed the idea for three reasons: the low apparent height of the light source, the small area lit on the ground, and the lack of noise. They also noted that the cloud was becoming more transparent, which let them see the light better.

According to GEIPAN, none of these three points rules out a fireball. The angular height looked low, but the phenomenon was probably about 20 km up and several tens of kilometres from the witness. Under a cloudy sky and at a low angular height, it is normal for the lit ground area to stay limited. As for the silence, many fireball reports also describe none. The investigation concluded that the witness had probably mistaken a sporadic fireball for something else, and the case was classified B.