ELNE (66) 25.12.2023

On 25 December 2023 around 19:15, two witnesses on their terrace in Elne (66) saw two steady, stationary white lights below Jupiter, toward south-southeast. After 1–2 minutes they gradually went out. The case has moderate evidential strength* because only one of the two witnesses reported and there are 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. The reporting witness regularly observes the sky and supplied precise date, time, azimuth, elevation and Jupiter-position data. These give a straightforward context not requiring field reconstruction. His sketch with Jupiter and the Massif des Albères gives a reasonably reliable azimuth around 140°, differing from the initial south-southeast label. The source first describes high residual strangeness arising solely from the vague but long 1–2-minute duration, which could not be clarified despite follow-up requests. It considers this too long for satellite or debris flares. Prolonged stationarity also disfavors aircraft landing lights; the aircraft examined were moving across the witnesses' view at much lower elevations. The point-like white appearance fits all three investigated hypotheses—satellite flares, aircraft landing lights and illuminated balloons—but prolonged stationarity prevents confirmation. Christmas evening would nevertheless favor festive aerial lights. The final discussion instead describes the phenomenon as having low strangeness, without resolving that contrast with the earlier assessment. Together with no independent corroboration of a supposedly visible, prolonged event, no account from the second witness and imprecise duration, it supports category C. None of the three explanations fits all reported features. GEIPAN classifies the case C: phenomenon not identified because data are lacking.