CHALLES-LES-EAUX (73) 11.10.2017 T2

On 11 October 2017 at about 14:30, a witness lying in a deckchair was looking south across a clear sky when a white, rather round object moving rapidly eastward caught his attention. He described it as the size of a handball. After about a minute, it suddenly appeared to move “backward”. He went to fetch his mobile phone, initially struggled to locate the UAP again, then photographed it. The phone image showed a bright white spot. Still intrigued, he took up the phone again and searched the sky. He found a smaller object, which then disappeared from view. After sitting back in his deckchair, he noticed strands floating in the sky. His daughter also saw them. He took several photographs and later found some of the strands caught on his cherry tree. Only one witness account was collected. GEIPAN assesses the account's evidential support as good. It describes the witness as precise and as having supplied all the information needed for a sound analysis, with the photographs providing a valuable addition. The research and analysis identify 2 distinct phenomena (see the investigation report): - Two airliners crossed within the same time window and at the same apparent position in the sky, creating the illusion that a single object had reversed direction. - The photographed filaments were gossamer, known in French as “fils de la Vierge”. Tiny young spiders use these silk threads to travel on the wind, a phenomenon called ballooning. GEIPAN classifies both associated cases A: CHALLES-LES-EAUX (73) 11.10.2017 T1, misidentification of airliners; and CHALLES-LES-EAUX (73) 11.10.2017 T2, observation of ballooning.