Sighting in Ostwald, January 1, 2014
Bas-Rhin, Grand Est, France
Sighting on January 1, 2014 in Ostwald (Bas-Rhin, France). According to GEIPAN, it was most probably a sky lantern (class B).
What happened
Shortly after midnight, a witness was out on their balcony when they noticed a large number of red lights in the sky. The objects moved silently in a straight line beneath a cloudy sky. The witness counted 23 of them, all following the same path.
The weather record showed a light southerly wind: south-west at 11 pm, south at midnight, south-east at 1 am. GEIPAN considered that red points of light flying in a line along the same trajectory have all the characteristics of Thai lanterns, which are very commonly released at the end of celebrations, and New Year's night reinforced this explanation. The witness, however, rejected the idea that they were flying lanterns.
GEIPAN classified the case as B, probably identified as a passage of Thai lanterns. Because such an observation on the night of 1 January is of low strangeness, no field investigation was carried out.
Account rewritten by SkyUnknown from the investigation report published by GEIPAN (CNES). The original text and case documents are on the official record.
- Date
- January 1, 2014
- Location
- Ostwald · town centre
- Type of sighting
- From the ground
- Source classification
- B
- Explanation
- Sky lanterns
Sources
- See the original document
GEIPAN (CNES)
n° 2014-01-08632
Summary written by SkyUnknown from the facts published by the source.