BOURGES (18) 28.04.2018

During an evening with friends in Bourges (18), several people saw a UAP consisting of several luminous points move silently across the sky at 23:47. The arrangement appeared triangular, then circular, but no connecting structure was visible. It passed over the building and was lost from view. Only 1 member of the group submitted an account. GEIPAN considers a passage of sky lanterns very probable: the lights could have been separate because no connecting shape was visible; they were bright and looked consistent with lanterns; their east-to-west movement, seen from northeast towards north, matched the wind recorded at Bourges at that time on Météociel; and the sighting occurred on a weekend night during the Printemps de Bourges festival, a setting conducive to celebrations involving lantern releases. The witnesses were surprised by the changing arrangement of lights. GEIPAN explains that this can be interpreted as a change of shape if observers imagine a structure between lights when none is visible. Lanterns can travel close together along slightly different paths because of small differences in size and aerodynamic drag and local variations in wind, especially over cities at their low flight altitudes of 100–300 m. Their formation as seen from the ground can therefore change, in this case from roughly triangular to roughly circular. GEIPAN consequently classifies the case A: sky lanterns.