Sighting in Sainte-Eulalie, December 14, 2013
Gironde, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France
Sighting on December 14, 2013 in Sainte-Eulalie (Gironde, France). According to GEIPAN, it was most probably a meteor or fireball (class B).
What happened
At three in the morning, a motorist saw a silvery fireball race across the sky at very high speed. It vanished toward the northeast, and the whole passage lasted less than a second. No other witness came forward.
The investigation found that a very bright fireball crossing the sky this quickly matches a bolide, in other words a large shooting star, produced when a fragment of a comet or asteroid enters the atmosphere. That night fell on a peak of activity for the Geminid meteor shower, and the BOAM observer network recorded dozens of such events. GEIPAN classified the case as B: the sighting was most likely a bolide from the Geminid shower.
Account rewritten by SkyUnknown from the investigation report published by GEIPAN (CNES). The original text and case documents are on the official record.
- Date
- December 14, 2013
- Location
- Sainte-Eulalie · town centre
- Type of sighting
- From the ground
- Source classification
- B
- Explanation
- Meteors and fireballs
Sources
- See the original document
GEIPAN (CNES)
n° 2013-12-08622
Summary written by SkyUnknown from the facts published by the source.