STAFFELFELDEN (68) 10.02.2018

On 10 February 2018 at 06:50, a witness finishing a bicycle round in Staffelfelden (68) saw 2 very bright white balls surrounded by a halo. They crossed the sky rapidly and silently from east to west, leaving a short trail, and were visible for about 5 seconds. The case has moderate evidential support, with only 1 witness and no photograph. GEIPAN defines evidential consistency as the amount of information in an account considered reliable and objectively supported. The description closely matches a fireball, particularly its very high apparent speed and visibility for only a few seconds. A fireball reported the same day from nearby Colmar (Haut-Rhin), with a similar trajectory, supports this hypothesis (see the investigation report). There are nevertheless differences in color and brightness, and the Colmar fireball account mentions no fragmentation. The reported times also differ by about 50 minutes. This could result from a combination of unverifiable errors: possible confusion between local civil time and Universal Time by the fireball witness, and an estimate about 20 minutes late by the UAP witness. The zigzag at the end of the UAP's path could be an autokinetic effect or result from the witness moving their head to follow the fireball overhead. The case is classified B: probable fireball.