Baume-les-Dames 2013, observation of an unidentified bright point

Summary

On December 17, 2013, a French citizen observed an unusual bright point in the sky from his balcony. Using an astronomy app on his smartphone, he noticed that the point did not appear in the list of stars or other celestial objects. Looking through binoculars, he confirmed that the object was round, bright, and remained stationary for about 15 minutes. He took photographs, but when he returned to the balcony five minutes later, the object had disappeared. No sound was heard and no other witnesses were reported. The GEIPAN examined several hypotheses, from airplanes to balloons, but none fit perfectly. The most plausible explanation pointed to a sky lantern, although inconsistencies such as duration and immobility arose. Ultimately, the case was classified as "C," meaning no clear explanation was found.