Sighting in Pujaut, October 11, 2013

At about 10 p.m. on a Friday evening, several people saw a bright yellow light in a cloudy sky. It twinkled, then went out all at once. It stayed fixed in place for about two minutes. Only one account was reported to GEIPAN, and the direction given was south-east.

GEIPAN looked at several explanations. A star or planet seemed unlikely: the witness and the weather records for Nîmes and Avignon both described a heavily overcast sky, and no very bright celestial object lay near that direction that could have shown through a thin layer of cloud. A sunlight flash off a geostationary satellite was also ruled out, since none was recorded at that time (it would have occurred around 8 p.m.) and the cloud cover would have hidden it.

A Thai lantern could match the description, and a Friday evening is a fairly likely time for a release. However, to appear motionless it would have needed a wind blowing from directly behind or in front of the observer (north-west or south-east), whereas the wind was from the north. The hypothesis still deserves consideration. The landing lights of an aircraft approaching or leaving Avignon could also fit: Flightradar24 showed no civil aircraft in the area, but a military aircraft seen head-on remains possible. Both of these last two explanations are weak, and GEIPAN lacked the information to decide between them. The case, judged of little strangeness, was classed C because of insufficient information.