Sighting in Nice, March 19, 2013

At around 8:30 p.m., a witness at home saw three points of light cross the night sky, one behind the other in a line. The sighting lasted roughly ten seconds, until the lights passed out of view behind a tree.

GEIPAN's investigation rated the case as moderately strange and moderately consistent: there was a single account, fairly complete, but with weak consistency regarding the weather. The lights had features that fit several possible explanations. A mistaken identification of a satellite formation or an aircraft could be ruled out from the outset. A fragmented meteor or an object carried by the wind, however, remained possible, and the brevity of the sighting made it impossible to choose between the two. The witness's visual perception was not in question; what was uncertain was how they interpreted what they saw, shaped by their surprise and by the short duration of the observation. With too little information available, the case was classed C.