Sighting in Nemours, May 10, 2013

At about 10:30 pm, three people were on their terrace when they saw a light moving across the sky. It was a fluorescent dark orange surrounded by red, and left no trail. One of the witnesses took a photo and filmed the scene on a mobile phone for about forty seconds while the object moved away.

Seven to eight minutes later, a second light appeared from the same direction. It vanished at exactly the same spot as the first, and the witness filmed it too, for roughly one minute. The movement was from southwest to northeast.

GEIPAN received only one account, a very detailed one, which clearly suggested Thai lanterns (flying paper lanterns), probably released for a celebration. The witness's videos support this explanation. The direction of travel matches the south-west to south wind recorded at Melun. Such lanterns measure between 50 cm and 1 m and fly at altitudes of 50 to 300 m. The case was classified B: probable passage of Thai lanterns.