PARIS (75) 17.05.2015

At 00:45 during the night from Saturday to Sunday 17 May 2015, a witness closing a window was surprised to see 5 or 6 coloured balls of light pass silently through a clear sky. They seemed to outline a dark craft. The observation was very brief, and the lights went out abruptly. He described a ‘grey, metallic’ craft with ‘6 large coloured balls of light’. GEIPAN considers that the apparent shape could be a familiar perceptual illusion (see the article on Gestalt psychology): the lights might have been real while the grey structure was an impression. Balls of light crossing the sky in a straight line on a weekend night suggest sky lanterns, probably released nearby after a private celebration. Their disappearance could reflect their flames going out or passage behind a building. Because the observation was very brief and no directions were supplied, the movement cannot be checked against the wind. GEIPAN considers a drone surprising, given the difficulty of safely flying one at night in an urban setting, and notes that drones tend to follow nonlinear paths. GEIPAN received no other account matching the same phenomenon and classifies the case C for lack of precise information and corroboration.