Sighting in Nuelles, May 30, 2015

At around 11:55 p.m., a couple was outside when they noticed an orange, luminous object moving slowly in a straight line across the sky. The sky was cloudy. The witnesses heard no particular noise, and the object eventually vanished into the clouds. Only one witness account was collected for this case.

The GEIPAN looked at several possible explanations. An Iridium satellite flare was visible at that exact moment according to the Calsky data, but it appeared in the southwest and moved toward the northwest, and its brightness should have looked variable, so this fits poorly. A flare from another, unlisted satellite was considered very unlikely. A bolide could match in brightness, duration and trajectory, but the witness would probably have noticed changing brightness; in addition, no other sighting and no camera recording was reported, although the cloud cover may account for that. Finally, a Thai lantern is consistent with the color, the time and the day, but the steady north wind (according to Météociel) does not appear compatible with the eastward movement observed.

None of these hypotheses was retained, for lack of verification or cross-checking. The case is classified C (insufficient data): additional information might eventually make it possible to determine the origin of the phenomenon.