Sighting in Roubaix, August 23, 2007

A witness sitting on a café terrace watched an object drift slowly and silently overhead. It was spherical in an unusual way and had fins. It travelled from east to west while climbing vertically into the sky. The witness could not keep following it because it ended up in full sunlight. No other witness account was collected.

The investigation found that the object described does resemble an inflatable advertising module, as the witness themselves noted. The witness felt a west wind at ground level, which contradicts that explanation. However, weather records from nearby Lille show an east wind, which would fit the object's movement. The wind felt in the square could well have differed from the wind at 100 m altitude. The object's rotation and erratic movements are not surprising for something of this shape carried by the wind.

GEIPAN classified the case as B: a probable helium-filled balloon, most likely one that had escaped from its owner.