Sighting in Villefranche-de-Rouergue, June 6, 2013

At about 10:10 pm, a motorist noticed two lights in the sky that seemed to be stationary. They kept driving, then stopped to watch and could make out two separate shapes. The witness heard no particular noise during the sighting, nor when the lights disappeared toward the north-northwest. They took two photographs with a mobile phone. No other witness account was collected.

The investigation established that the Sun was 8° below the horizon, roughly half an hour after sunset. To the east, the star Vega was shining very brightly (azimuth 65°, altitude 32°). According to Meteociel and the Souillac records, the sky was clear and the wind almost nil.

GEIPAN looked at several explanations. Aircraft lit by the Sun were ruled out: thirty minutes after sunset, planes at 10,000 m are no longer lit by it. Stars or planets seen through a thin veil of cloud did not fit either, since no pair of stars matched the observation. Luminous balloons or Thai lanterns remained possible but unlikely on a weekday, and the witness's detailed description did not match typical accounts of Thai lanterns. The case, of low strangeness (distant lights seeming to move slightly), remains unexplained for lack of information and further testimony. It was classified C, and its low strangeness did not warrant a deeper investigation.