Sighting in Niedermodern, July 7, 2012
Bas-Rhin, Grand Est, France
Sighting on July 7, 2012 in Niedermodern (Bas-Rhin, France). According to GEIPAN, it was most probably a sky lantern (class B).
What happened
On a Saturday evening around 10:40 pm, a witness saw several yellow-orange balls pass by without making any sound. They were lined up one behind the other, evenly spaced, and moving from east to west. According to the GEIPAN's conclusion, the witness counted eight to ten of them, reddish-orange in colour.
The witness's description immediately suggested Thai lanterns: balls of fire moving horizontally in a group, silently, from east to west. In Strasbourg, the light wind blew from the south at 8 pm and from the north at 11 pm. It was hard to say for certain that the wind was blowing from the east at Niedermodern, but it was possible. Private parties are also common on summer Saturday evenings, and many of them end with a release of Thai lanterns.
The GEIPAN classified the case as B: the sighting was probably a passing group of Thai lanterns.
Account rewritten by SkyUnknown from the investigation report published by GEIPAN (CNES). The original text and case documents are on the official record.
- Date
- July 7, 2012
- Location
- Niedermodern · town centre
- Type of sighting
- From the ground
- Source classification
- B
- Explanation
- Sky lanterns
Sources
- See the original document
GEIPAN (CNES)
n° 2012-07-08296
Summary written by SkyUnknown from the facts published by the source.