Sighting in Rentree Atmospherique, January 31, 2012

At around 10 p.m., several witnesses saw a bright, colourful phenomenon move quickly across the sky. Two of them, in two different towns, gave more detailed accounts of what they had seen, and one of these testimonies was the subject of a separate investigation.

GEIPAN checked that no catalogued space object, such as a piece of debris, could have re-entered the atmosphere at that time. The REFORME network, which brings together meteor observers, had also recorded the event. The observation lasted less than 10 seconds, which points to a speed far above 7 km/s, the re-entry speed of debris from launchers or satellites. It was therefore most probably a natural meteoroid entering the atmosphere. The case was classified B: probable atmospheric entry of a natural meteoroid.