PETITES-LOGES (LES) (51) 08.11.2022

On 8 November 2022 at 07:45, a witness travelling on the D944 near Les Petites-Loges (51) saw a very bright point move rapidly westward without a trail and disappear. It lasted about 1–2 seconds. Only 1 account was collected. The amount of reliable information is moderate: 1 witness and no photograph or video because the event was so brief. The investigation identified a small meteor entering the atmosphere, resembling a shooting star; see the investigation report. This conclusion rests on a matching appearance, including colour and brightness, the very brief duration and the straight trajectory. GEIPAN explains that small meteors closer in character to ordinary shooting stars, as this probably was, are less spectacular, attract fewer observers and are less likely to be reported. It therefore considers the absence of reports to the International Meteor Organization (IMO) understandable. The triggering threshold of automated cameras probably also contributed to the lack of a recording at the observation time. The witness had considered a fireball but chiefly found the absence of a trail strange. GEIPAN explains that trails are not always produced: depending on size, atmospheric entry angle and the perspective created by the meteor's and witness's positions, a meteor may have no trail or one invisible to the naked eye. GEIPAN classifies the case A: observation of a meteor.