PRATS-DE-CARLUX (24) 13.09.2015

On 13 September 2015 at about 00:25, a witness at home in Prats-de-Carlux (24) saw 2 glowing reddish-orange balls moving silently through a clear sky. Only 1 account was collected. Their passage over several minutes on a weekend night suggested sky lanterns, probably released nearby after a private celebration. GEIPAN considers their southeast-to-southwest path compatible with winds described in the source as southeast to north in the Brive-Souillac Météociel record. The precise account and especially photograph 477 confirm the explanation: the madeleine-cake-like shape, characteristic color and yellower center are decisive. Other images show the lights farther away and are harder to interpret. The witness, an amateur astronomer, was surprised by something unlike the celestial bodies he knew well. GEIPAN notes that lanterns' relatively low intrinsic brightness often leads observers to overestimate their distance and therefore size. It classifies the case A: sky lanterns.