Sighting in Prats-de-Carlux, September 13, 2015

Shortly after 12:25 a.m., from home, the witness saw two glowing, reddish-orange balls pass through a clear sky. They moved without making any sound. They crossed the sky from the southeast toward the southwest over a few minutes. The witness, an amateur astronomer, was surprised, as the object looked nothing like the celestial bodies they know well. They took several photos, and theirs was the only testimony collected.

The investigation concluded that these were Thai lanterns, most likely released nearby at the end of a private party on a weekend night. The direction of travel matches the wind recorded at the Brive-Souillac station, blowing from the southeast to the north. The witness's very precise description and one of the photos, showing a madeleine-like shape, the characteristic colour and a yellower centre, support this identification. The other pictures show the phenomenon from a distance and are harder to interpret. Thai lanterns give off little light of their own, so they are often judged to be farther away, and therefore larger, than they really are. GEIPAN classified the case as A.