FONTAINES-SUR-SAONE (69) 04.10.2014

On 4 October 2014 between 23:00 and 23:30, a witness watched from his balcony for 10 minutes as a column of lights formed an S above a nearby hill. GEIPAN considers orange balls visible for several minutes on a weekend night strongly suggestive of sky lanterns, probably released nearby after a private celebration. Their movement from the southwest matches the very light, variable southwesterly wind recorded at Lyon-Bron. The photographs confirm the explanation. Their complex shapes result from camera shake during relatively long exposures of 1/4 second. The vertically stretched S fits ascending lanterns viewed roughly along the wind direction, although the witness’s graphical reconstruction does not seem to match the images well. GEIPAN estimates that they were probably released across the Saône at Collonges-au-Mont-d’Or, were 400–800 m away in the first photograph, and measured 40–60 cm in diameter. The case is classified A: sky lanterns.