Sighting in Saint-Julien-en-Genevois, June 6, 2010

Around midnight, on the night of Saturday into Sunday, a witness saw a yellow ball of light surrounded by an orange halo pass by without a sound. The sighting lasted five to six seconds, and the object moved from south to north. The witness had also noticed fireworks that night, which suggests that celebrations were taking place.

The investigation found that the description closely resembles a Thai lantern, a commercially available item sold in several colors, and that the straight trajectory is typical of this kind of sighting. However, the wind recorded at the airport was blowing from the north at midnight, so the lantern hypothesis could not be confirmed. In mountain areas, though, when the wind is light, local breezes can blow in different directions from one valley to another.

The case has low strangeness and good consistency, thanks to a clear account of events. Because there was no local wind measurement, no very precise weather data, no independent witnesses and no cross-checking, GEIPAN classified it C: insufficient data.