ECARDENVILLE-LA-CAMPAGNE (27) 18.04.2019

On 18 April 2019 at about 21:17, a witness in his garden saw a round, fiery-red object topped by a gray dome pass nearby above the garden's trees. He fetched his mobile phone from the house and tried to take photographs and a video, which was very short—too short—before the phenomenon quickly disappeared toward the southwest. The passage was silent. Only 1 account of the phenomenon was collected. The fleeting observation lasted only 1 minute, preventing immediate identification. The account nevertheless has good evidential support: the photographs help establish the locations, azimuths and elevations of the UAP (see the investigation report). The object had the characteristics of a sky lantern, also called a Thai or Chinese lantern: a northwest-to-southwest trajectory and speed matching the wind, an orange color, a fire-like appearance underneath, a “gray dome” above, and a round shape. The perceived strangeness mainly concerned the gray dome. As explained in the report, GEIPAN has handled similar descriptions before, for example in the Pontarlier (25) lantern case of 2 December 2019. That case also involved a fast-moving UAP. Regarding speed, weather-station records show that the average wind speed was indeed high, and gusts could also account for rapid movement. The rather poor-quality photographs prevent a definitive identification, but the available evidence, including the agreement between wind direction and the object's movement, suggests a single lantern. The object was clearly windborne. Image processing with GEIPAN's IPACO software strengthens the probable lantern explanation. The lantern was presumably released from a nearby house. The remotely conducted investigation did not identify who released it. GEIPAN classifies the sighting A: sky lantern.