BRUGUIERES (31) 12.11.2022

On the evening of 12 November 2022, 2 residents, T1 and T2, of Bruguières (31) briefly saw a luminous phenomenon with a halo move rapidly across the night sky. GEIPAN assesses moderate strangeness and a fairly good amount of reliable information: 2 witnesses, but no photograph or free-form narrative. It concludes that this was probably a meteor; see the investigation report. Supporting features include the short observation, very high speed reported by T2, a possible orange colour and faint brightness described by both as soft and diffuse. T2 described a compatible circular shape. T1 was more specific, calling it circular/hexagonal; the hexagonal aspect is less compatible, although the brief observation may well have prevented detailed inspection. T1 described a straight path. The source then calls T2 more precise “as with the shape,” despite its earlier attribution of the more precise shape to T1: T2 described a half-turn in both directions, then 3 slight zigzags overhead, followed by a climbing left turn. Neither described a luminous trail, only a halo, which is possible for meteors or shooting stars in some viewing conditions. No fireball in the American Meteor Society (AMS) or FRIPON (Fireball Recovery and InterPlanetary Observation Network) databases matches the UAP. GEIPAN notes that a relatively faint event may not have been seen or reported elsewhere and states that it could not have been recorded by FRIPON cameras, whose sensitivity is set to exclude the much more frequent ordinary meteors or shooting stars. The case is classified B: probable observation of a meteor.