Sighting in Nouzonville, August 30, 2008

On a Saturday evening, around 11:45 pm, a witness was stargazing with the naked eye when a yellow ball surrounded by multicoloured glitter caught their attention, directly overhead and slightly to the left. Through binoculars, they saw that the ball was yellow, with lights of every colour inside it, on its inner part. It stayed motionless for two to three seconds, then began to move very slowly before picking up speed. It first travelled horizontally, then started a diagonal descent until the witness lost sight of it, since the Montcy-Notre-Dame forest lay in front of their home.

The witness left for about ten seconds. A friend who was with them then called out: the ball had returned to the spot where it first appeared. It flew exactly the same path again before vanishing behind the forested area.

According to the GEIPAN, the yellow colour, the movement matching the light westerly wind recorded that day on Météociel, the Saturday-night timing and a festival nearby (Le cabaret vert) are all consistent with Thai lanterns. The colours and glitter could be explained by the flickering burner and by the lantern's envelope, which were of different colours. The ball's apparent return to the same place was probably due to a second lantern following the same air current. In 2008 such lanterns were still uncommon, with the first sightings dating from that year. The case was classified B: probable sighting of Thai lanterns.