METHAMIS (84) 01.10.2022

On 1 October 2022, a witness on his west-facing terrace in Méthamis (84) saw three circular white UAPs, resembling faint halos, relatively low to the west-southwest. He described fast right-to-left movement at constant altitude across about 20° of horizon. They moved back and forth, crossing and avoiding each other, over the same area for about 5 minutes, without slowing even when changing direction. Alerted by him, two other people watched the last 2 minutes from their home about 1 km away. They did not report to GEIPAN. T1 did not describe how the observation ended. The case has moderate evidential strength*: only one reported account, despite the two independent additional observers, and no photographs or videos. *Under GEIPAN's criteria, evidential strength is the amount of information collected for an account that is considered reliable and objectively substantiated. Analysis confirmed T1's skytracer hypothesis and explained what he found strange: the absence of visible beams (see investigation report). The French summary calls the skytracer a laser projector. Supporting features were: - Round halo-like shapes typical of illuminated spots on low cloud. - White, commonly used by searchlights. - Low brightness. - No visible beam: excellent horizontal visibility of 60 km indicated few or no suspended particles to reveal the light in the air. - Mist banks that could form a projection surface. - Rapid, regular, uninterrupted back-and-forth motion typical of an automated system. - Saturday evening, favorable to promotional use at nightclub events, local celebrations or commercial displays. - A skytracer's range can reach or exceed 20 km and its light can be seen farther away, allowing a festive or commercial installation around Avignon, which lies in the viewing direction. Although the investigator could not locate the specific projector, the other account details make the hypothesis very probable. The case is classified A: very probable observation of a skytracer.