CHATEAU-RENAULT (37) 04.08.2025

At midnight on the night of 4 August 2025, a woman in her garden saw an orange spherical UAP toward the southeast. Its brightness fluctuated at times. It moved slowly and silently in a straight line, then disappeared behind trees after about 40 seconds. GEIPAN assesses the evidential support as moderate: one witness and no photograph or video of the UAP. Under its criteria, evidential support is the amount of information considered reliable and objectively established that has been collected for an account. A reconstruction photograph supplied by the witness, compared with a location map, allowed her position and viewing directions to be established fairly precisely (annexes 1 and 2). The apparent path was from her right to her left. This could correspond to west-to-east, southwest-to-northeast or northwest-to-southeast movement. Surface or near-surface wind data from the closest station, Saunay (37), about 6 km away, showed almost no wind and a variable direction (annex 3). GEIPAN considers a sky lantern, supported by its spherical shape and orange colour; fluctuating brightness typical of a flame seen through a lantern's open base; and slow, silent movement. With virtually no wind, weak local air currents could move it. The source also regards the conditions as favorable for a release: summer, a weekend night from Sunday into Monday, and calm weather. It considers the short observation compatible with a lantern's operating lifetime. Lanterns are usually released in small groups for private celebrations such as weddings or birthdays, but a single lantern may be launched as a test. GEIPAN classifies the case A: very probable observation of a sky lantern.