Sighting in Nizerolles, December 26, 2014

Two witnesses living in a hamlet contacted the gendarmes twice, on 26 and 29 December 2014, because several points of light in the night sky had puzzled them. The report gives no time, no duration and no detailed description of these lights, other than noting a red color for two of them.

The gendarmes went to the site and checked several things. Wind turbines about 12 km from the witnesses, partly visible along the line of observation, were undergoing tests of their mandatory nighttime warning lights, and these red lights match the color reported for two of the points. The planet Jupiter was in the same direction, was moving and had the same color as another point. The gendarmes also noted that the first witness had mistaken the street lighting of a nearby hamlet, as well as Christmas string lights, for unknown phenomena. Finally, one of the witnesses has a physiological condition of tiny eye movements, known as micro-nystagmus, which probably added to the apparent movement of most of the points.

GEIPAN concluded that the lights were very probably a mix of natural and man-made objects and phenomena: Jupiter, red wind turbine lights, street lighting and Christmas string lights. The case is classified A, since the observation of the turbines' night lighting, of Jupiter and of street lighting is certain.