EYGALIERES (13) 24.10.2015

On Saturday 24 October 2015 at 20:30, several people saw many reddish lights moving slowly one behind another. They appeared low toward Mollèges (13) and eventually disappeared overhead between Saint-Sixte (13) and Le Contras (13). A witness took photographs and videos. Others contacted by telephone also saw the lights. Two accounts were collected. Reddish lights crossing the sky on a weekend evening strongly suggest sky lanterns released nearby after a private celebration. The observed motion was increasing angular elevation along a north-northwest sightline, which could represent approach toward the witnesses, vertical ascent, or both. Weather records from Salon, Marignane and Avignon show weak, highly variable winds. Their direction at the precise observation location and time cannot be established. The 2 analyzed photographs contain surprisingly sharp light points, white in one and colored in the other. Their positions are exactly identical in both images. Extreme sharpness and fixed position are characteristic of dead or hot pixels, common digital-camera defects usually noticed only in night photographs. The images therefore add no information except an indication that the observed phenomena were faint. The witness accounts fit sky lanterns in every respect, although local wind data cannot validate the hypothesis. GEIPAN classifies the case B: probable sky lanterns. The cited weather records for Avignon, Salon-de-Provence and Marignane are from Météociel for the observation date.