Sighting in Pierre-Châtel, March 6, 2010
Isère, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France
Sighting on March 6, 2010 in Pierre-Châtel (Isère, France). GEIPAN identified the phenomenon with certainty: it was a sky lantern (class A).
What happened
At about 11:05 p.m., a driver travelling with passengers saw around fifteen reddish-orange balls of light drift past in complete silence. The sighting lasted more than five minutes, after which the lights gradually faded away. A video was recorded on a mobile phone during the observation.
The driver's detailed description closely matched Thai lanterns released during celebrations. After a local newspaper published an article about the sighting, a person came forward who had released 13 Thai lanterns. The gendarmerie investigation reached the same conclusion: lanterns had been released at a private party held 2.5 km from where the witnesses were. GEIPAN classified the case as A, the movement of orange balls being identified as 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
- March 6, 2010
- Location
- Pierre-Châtel · town centre
- Type of sighting
- From the ground
- Source classification
- A
- Explanation
- Sky lanterns
Sources
- See the original document
GEIPAN (CNES)
n° 2010-03-02536
Summary written by SkyUnknown from the facts published by the source.