Sighting in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, July 19, 2020

During the night of 18 to 19 July 2020, five people were standing in fields on high ground, watching comet Neowise. Between midnight and 1 a.m., they saw a very bright white flash, followed by a straight streak racing off to the south. A second flash, much fainter, appeared before the streak faded away. The whole event lasted less than about ten seconds. Only one witness gave a direct account, but they filled in the questionnaire with great care and produced a 2D video reconstruction, which gave investigators very usable material. The consistency of the testimony was rated good.

The investigation looked at two explanations: a double satellite flash, or the atmospheric re-entry of a bolide. The second was chosen. A bolide re-entry did occur at that date and time, was seen from several places across France, and was reported on the IMO/AMS website. The double flash matches a two-stage fragmentation of the bolide as it entered the dense layers of the atmosphere. The lingering streak was the trail of plasma produced by the vaporisation of its material; it vanished from the ends toward the centre because the plasma is more concentrated in the middle and takes longer to disperse. The white colour, the short duration and the direction also agree with what other witnesses of the bolide described. GEIPAN therefore classified the case as A: atmospheric re-entry of a bolide.