Sighting in Saint-Just-en-Chaussée, May 12, 2012

The witness saw a large, disc-shaped point of light giving off a very bright white glow. It moved very fast in a straight line from the northwest to the southeast, staying at the same altitude throughout. It crossed the sky in 8 to 10 seconds.

GEIPAN considered that this very bright disc strongly suggested an object entering the atmosphere: either a piece of satellite debris or, more likely, a meteoroid. This phenomenon, known as a bolide, is very spectacular. The BOAM network did not record this particular event, but it reported many similar ones during the same night. The period coincides with several meteor showers, in particular the Eta Aquariids, the strongest at that time of year. GEIPAN therefore classified the case as B: a probable bolide, caused by the atmospheric entry of a natural object.