EYBENS (38) 08.01.2023

On 8 January 2023 between 01:30 and 01:36, a witness outside their home in Eybens saw an orange luminous phenomenon toward the west-northwest, above the Vercors. It had a point-like center surrounded by a fairly bright orange glow, comparable to “a fairly bright distant flame.” It moved slowly along a horizontal path, estimated as south to north or southwest to northeast. Its elevation was estimated at 30–35° initially and 30–40° at the end. After 10–15 seconds it disappeared behind buildings. About 6 minutes later, the witness saw a second UAP identical in every respect and briefly filmed it before it passed through clouds, slightly illuminating them. Only 1 account was collected. GEIPAN assesses the case as having medium evidential support and rather low strangeness after analysis. It very probably concerns 2 sky lanterns, for the reasons detailed in the investigation report: a lantern-like shape; an orange, fairly bright, flame-like glow; movement with the wind; a straight horizontal path near the end; and the Saturday-to-Sunday night timing, favorable for releases during local or private celebrations. GEIPAN considers that the lanterns had probably been released some time earlier, allowing them to reach the lowest cloud layer at an altitude of 2,100 m. The second was obscured by those clouds at the end. The source gives a maximum lantern burn time of about 20 minutes, sufficient for this ascent after release. The witness mentioned a possible vertical ascent at the beginning. GEIPAN reiterates that the lanterns were probably already some way into their flights because they reached the clouds; distance and possible perspective effects made their actual paths difficult to judge. The submitted video was unusable because the UAP was not visible, even after enhancement. GEIPAN classifies the case B: a very probable observation of 2 sky lanterns.