GRADIGNAN (33) 20.06.2020

On 3 December 2020, GEIPAN received a questionnaire and photographs concerning a UAP the witness dated to 21 June 2020 at 00:02 in the Bordeaux sky. Only one account was collected. While waiting for a friend in the passenger seat of a stationary car, the witness noticed movement to his right. A UAP moved through a short segment he described as about 5 cm, quickly became stationary and disappeared. He photographed it through the windscreen (see witness photograph). Four months later, while examining the photograph, he zoomed in and inverted the colours with image-processing tools. An intriguing shape prompted his report to GEIPAN. He based the date and time on information associated with the photograph: 21 June at 00:02. But the sky is still light in the image, apparently inconsistent with that time. IPACO analysis dates it instead to 20 June 2020 at 22:02, which better fits the sky’s appearance. The source gives the Sun’s position as “16°35” without further qualification (see Stellarium document). It is difficult to separate his direct observation from what he later saw through phone-software analysis of the image. His free account describes a point; the questionnaire describes an object shaped like a cup-and-ball toy. The description and a summer Saturday evening suggest a windborne celebratory object such as a sky lantern. The photograph is unusual for a lantern, however: its brightness looks more like reflected sunlight than emitted light. Four months later, he described an initial left-to-right movement while looking north, corresponding to west-to-east motion. Canéjan weather station, 5 km away, recorded wind from 332°, northwest to southeast. Nearby Canéjan, Villenave-d’Ornon and Cadaujac stations reported speeds of 2–7 km/h. GEIPAN considers wind direction and speed compatible with an object moving as described, and weak wind could explain the apparent stop (see weather document). He also reported northeast/southwest rocking once the UAP was stationary, likewise explicable by wind or, for a lantern, flame movement. The photographed object appears doubled. Since he described seeing a point directly, GEIPAN considers the double image very probably a windscreen effect. GEIPAN classifies the case B: probable misidentification of a windborne object, such as a festive balloon or lantern.