SAINT-MICHEL-SUR-MEURTHE (88) 31.12.2013

At 17:30, a witness looking north-northeast from a moving vehicle saw an orange light above the horizon. It seemed stationary, and the witness said it was neither a star, the Moon nor a streetlamp. GEIPAN confirms that no very bright star or the Moon was in that direction and that it was too high for a streetlamp. Because the sighting occurred shortly after sunset, it considered a temporary sunlight reflection from an aircraft or satellite. The impression of stillness cannot be treated as a precise observation because the witness was moving. GEIPAN found no matching airliner on Flightradar24, although a military aircraft remained possible. CalSky listed several satellite candidates, including NOSS objects passing in that direction at the time, particularly the launcher debris designated 3-4 Rocket. Normally faint, at magnitudes 4–6, such objects are known to flare occasionally. These explanations fit but could not be sufficiently substantiated. GEIPAN classifies this case of low strangeness as C for lack of information.