BANASSAC (48) 26.12.2015

On Saturday 26 December 2015 at 20:30, a witness fetching firewood behind his house noticed a silent, stationary orange point. It suddenly appeared to leave rapidly southward and disappeared behind a hill. Going outside again for more logs, he saw up to four points disappear one after another. He reported the observation with assistance from his wife and adult daughter and supplied photographs. One image has no camera shake despite its quarter-second exposure. The source describes features typical of sky lanterns: an orange point, no flashes, no noise, apparent hovering and then rapid disappearance as a candle goes out. The Saturday evening immediately after Christmas is also favorable to a gathering of family or friends. Météociel records from Mende, 25 km east, at 20:00 show complete cloud cover, 8 eighths, no precipitation, 20 km visibility and a southeasterly wind below 10 km/h. Supporting considerations are: - No stars were visible under the overcast sky. The witness estimated a 1, 500 m cloud base; the investigation rules out an airliner, satellite or ISS in that context. - A light southeasterly wind along the viewing direction could make a drifting object appear stationary. The investigation interprets the first rapid southward departure as a misperception of a lantern falling and fading when its candle burned out. The second observation, described as one point splitting into three plus a separate fourth point, fits a new release, with three lanterns separating in the wind and a parallax effect relative to the observer. The investigation considers lanterns released during Christmas celebrations highly probable. GEIPAN classifies the case B: probable observation of sky lanterns.