RAMBERVILLERS (88) 25.07.2016

The case title gives 25 July 2016, while the narrative dates the sighting to 26 July 2016 at about 19:14. A witness on an outdoor terrace saw an apparently spherical object surrounded by a ring move rapidly and silently from the north-northeast. It reflected sunlight and left no visible trail. The witness was surprised because it did not resemble a familiar aircraft or weather balloon. On-site measurements, the witness interview, Flightradar playback and weather archives support an aircraft misidentification (see the investigation report). An aircraft not separately noticed by the witness passed within about 1 minute of the sighting time along a matching trajectory. There was a significant angular-elevation discrepancy: the aircraft was at 56°, while the witness estimated the UAP at 32°. The investigation does not consider this disqualifying because the sighting was in open sky without reference points. Aircraft do not always leave contrails. The spherical appearance and ring could result from uneven specular sunlight reflections along the fuselage and partial visibility of the wings because of the viewing geometry, with less favorable reflections from the wings. This unusual appearance may also have made it seem larger than the aircraft the witness normally sees passing. GEIPAN classifies the case A: airliner misidentification.