NOISY-LE-GRAND (93) 06.01.2025

On 6 January 2025 at 02:49, a lone witness at his apartment window in Noisy-le-Grand (93) saw lights moving in the sky. He described multiple bright white lights of two sizes, regularly spaced and circling, accompanied by a white halo. He observed them east-northeast at an elevation of 30–45°. He voluntarily stopped watching while they were still present; the French card summary describes the observation as long. He photographed and filmed the clearly visible phenomenon. The case has good evidential strength* from a photograph and video. Its appearance and behavior seemed strange because it differed from lights he had previously seen in the same direction and attributed to festivities. *Under GEIPAN's criteria, evidential strength is the amount of information collected for an account that is considered reliable and objectively substantiated. The investigation showed that the white shapes were light patterns projected onto clouds by powerful searchlights commonly called skytracers. These make regular, repetitive movements clearly visible in the video, often circular as described, although an operator can also move them randomly. Their appearance varies with cloud cover. Uniform low cloud provides a better projection surface, producing clearer and brighter shapes; higher or broken cloud produces fainter, less distinct shapes. Cloud-ceiling records for 01:00–03:00 on 6 January (appendix 1) show mid-level cloud at around 2 km at the observation time, favorable to the reported effects but weakening them because of its altitude. Lower cloud would have produced more noticeable effects. Cloud cover was also extensive, between 5–7 and 8 eighths during 02:00–03:00 according to the nearest stations, Paris-Le Bourget and Charles de Gaulle airports, consistent with skytracer visibility. The line of sight points exactly toward Disneyland Paris, about 16 km away at azimuth 83° (appendix 2), compared with the witness's east-northeast description. Light shows occur there regularly, although not usually so late at night. The source places the observation between two shows: Disney Electrical Sky Parade, said to end on the observation date around 21:00, and Disney Tales of Magic, beginning on the evening of 10 January 2025. That stated 21:00 ending is later on the same calendar day than the 02:49 sighting; the source does not clarify this chronology. Searchlight testing is considered entirely plausible and could explain why the lights differed from those the witness usually saw in that direction. GEIPAN classifies the case A: skytracers from Disneyland.