LUDE (LE) (72) 03.12.2017

On 3 December 2017 at 00:16, while filming outdoors with a smartphone, a witness suddenly saw a bright light to the right and heard a double snapping sound from the left. The event lasted 2 seconds. At home, the witness discovered the UAP had been recorded, with the sound much clearer than it had seemed in person. No other account was collected. Analysis demonstrated that the UAP was a small object moving rapidly very close to the lens, probably an insect (see investigation report). The evidence is: - Rapid movement during each frame's exposure produced an artificially elongated shape unrelated to the object's actual form. - Motion was probably not parallel to the lens's focal plane, making the apparent length decrease as it moved. - The automatically activated nighttime flash strongly illuminated it, producing its white color. The flash's limited range implies proximity. - Two blurs combine along its length: directional horizontal motion blur and non-directional defocus blur in both horizontal and vertical dimensions. Defocus confirms it was close to the lens and consequently small. Being close to the lens and flash explains why even a small object appeared brightly luminous to the naked eye. The recorded noise sounds like a whoosh synchronized with the UAP's passage and therefore presumably caused by it. Comparable in level to the witness's breathing, it could be the sound of a passing insect without requiring it to be particularly large or close. The source finds this harder to explain for another object because wind moving it would itself have been recorded. GEIPAN classifies the case B: probable observation of an insect whose path was drawn toward the flash.