MARSSAC-SUR-TARN (81) 25.11.2020

Around midday on 25 November 2020, a motorist in Marssac-sur-Tarn (81) noticed a dark object changing shape in the sky. He stopped and took 2 photographs and 2 videos. No particular sound was heard as it passed, and no other account was collected. GEIPAN judges the unusualness fairly low and the evidential strength moderate: one witness, with the UAP absent from his photographs and videos. It considers a balloon probable; see the investigation report. The reported oblong shape, dark color and trajectory with the wind fit this explanation. Because the UAP does not appear in the images, they cannot provide useful comparisons to validate the hypothesis. GEIPAN notes that no other witness came forward despite a daytime sighting over a town, reducing its assessment of unusualness. The balloon hypothesis is further supported by the witness later comparing what he saw to a UAP photograph that proved to show a solar balloon. The case is classified as B: probable misidentification of a balloon.