Sighting in Rixheim, April 15, 2012

Around midnight, a witness saw a round orange ball that looked like it was on fire move silently along a descending path toward the east, then turn south. A second phenomenon that looked the same appeared, and the first seemed to catch up with it. The two then travelled together on the same heading, their brightness slowly faded, and they went out at the same moment. The witness described flames at the back of the object. Only one questionnaire was collected.

The witness, an airline pilot, thought the objects were very light and carried by the wind. At ground level, the airport recorded a north-northwest wind of 15 km/h, which does not rule out different air currents at altitude. GEIPAN considers the impression of one object joining the other to be subjective: they followed the same path with a lag, and distances are hard to judge when both are seen in the same direction. The orange colour and the extinction in flight are typical of Thai lanterns, and a weekend night suits such celebrations. The flames are the only odd detail, but drizzle, turbulence and the flickering of the light could have suggested them; the second object, much farther away, also looked like it was burning. The case is classed B: the witness probably saw Thai lanterns.