Sighting in Pauillac, May 31, 2014
Gironde, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France
Sighting on May 31, 2014 in Pauillac (Gironde, France). According to GEIPAN, it was most probably a sky lantern (class B).
What happened
At around 11 p.m. on a Saturday evening, a witness looked towards the west and saw a group of orange balls in the night sky. The sighting lasted a few minutes. The group seemed to form a cornucopia shape, and the objects appeared to hang motionless.
The investigation concluded that these lights were probably Thai lanterns released after a party. The witness was looking into a light wind, which explains why the objects seemed stationary. The cornucopia shape is explained by perspective: the lanterns were almost lined up along the wind direction. Météociel reported a light westerly wind of about 10 km/h in Bordeaux. No other witness account was collected.
GEIPAN classified the case as B: probable observation of Thai lanterns.
Account rewritten by SkyUnknown from the investigation report published by GEIPAN (CNES). The original text and case documents are on the official record.
- Date
- May 31, 2014
- Location
- Pauillac · town centre
- Type of sighting
- From the ground
- Source classification
- B
- Explanation
- Sky lanterns
Sources
- See the original document
GEIPAN (CNES)
n° 2014-05-08709
Summary written by SkyUnknown from the facts published by the source.