TOURS (37) 01.02.2025

On 1 February 2025 at about 16:05, a time confirmed during the investigation, a witness in his garden in Tours (37) looked up and saw a spherical object apparently rotating on its axis. It moved in a straight line with no sound, trail or other associated visual or audible effect. Described as a sphere or ball regularly alternating between white and dark shades, it continued straight before disappearing behind a large tree. The unusual feature was the impression of a rotating sphere regularly alternating between white and black. GEIPAN considers the evidential support fairly good: the single witness supplied a video from which the UAP’s movement characteristics could be extracted. In GEIPAN’s terminology, evidential support is the amount of reliable, objectively established information collected for an account. The contextual information gathered during the investigation, together with the video analysis, supports a balloon explanation (see the investigation report). Its steady movement, alternating reflections, silence, and path matching the wind’s direction and speed suggest a Mylar balloon periodically reflecting sunlight as the wind carried it along. 1 February was a Saturday, a day conducive to celebrations or events. However, the balloon’s origin, whether intentionally released or accidentally lost, was not established. GEIPAN classifies the case B: probable observation of a windborne Mylar balloon.