[D59] DE WARLUS (62) VERS DAINVILLE (62) 17.10.2021

On 17 October 2021 at about 19:06, a witness and his female friend were driving on the D59 from Warlus to Dainville (62) when they briefly saw a rather flat-looking light appear among clouds, followed by 2 grey spheres one above the other. The initially straight path suddenly turned perpendicular, then the phenomenon accelerated and left his field of view. Only 1 account was collected. GEIPAN assesses the amount of reliable information as moderate: 2 observers, only 1 account. The video was not supplied, and the extracted photograph was unusable; see the investigation report. The investigation concluded that they probably saw an elaborately shaped novelty balloon, possibly Mylar. Supporting features were a fanciful shape common in such balloons, white changing to grey as the Sun set, silence, straight movement with the wind, and disappearance through distance and loss from view. The principal anomaly was the perception of 2 successive turns. GEIPAN considers these apparent changes probably resulted from 2 brightness changes caused by 2 successive rotations of the balloon. A less reflective surface, appearing dimmer, followed by a more reflective surface would respectively create impressions of receding and approaching. GEIPAN classifies the case A: observation of a Mylar-type novelty balloon carried by the wind.