Sighting in Parthenay, October 20, 2022

At around 7:00 a.m., the witness was on the terrace of their home when they noticed two very bright yellow lights, motionless in the sky to the northwest. Using a graduated ruler held at arm's length, they measured the gap between the lights at about 15 cm, with each light having an estimated apparent diameter of 2 cm.

After a few moments, the left-hand light moved very quickly to the right, leaving a brief orange trail, and then vanished. The witness could not say what happened to the second light: it may have gone out where it was, or disappeared without being noticed, as their attention was on the movement of the first. The whole observation lasted about 15 seconds. No other witness account was collected.

GEIPAN rated the consistency of the case as low, because there was only one witness, no photographs, and no reply to the investigator's requests for further information. Checks found no aircraft or helicopter in the area at the time, and astronomical databases showed no fireball matching the time and direction. The idea of two drones was considered unlikely, notably because of the orange trail described. Because of insufficient data, the case was classified C.