ALSACAT-2013-07-24-ILLKIRCH-1
In early March 2014, I found on a "UFO" website a reported about an orange ball, by "Vali", who indicated that the 5 minutes observation occurred on July 24, 2013, at 10 p.m. in Illkirch in the Bas-Rhin.
She said she was in the garden and looked at the sky, when she saw an orange ball she supposed to be Mars. However, it was too big, orange, and especially it moved, very slowly and with a faltering movement. She called her daughter to "confirm what I saw," they watched it for "a while", then the ball went high to the east and in ten meters, its circumference significantly reduced, then the ball went out suddenly.
Mars was not visible that night, but of course what we read here is a fairly good description of a Chinese lantern finally out of fuel.
| Date: | July 24, 2013 |
|---|---|
| Time: | 10:00 p.m. |
| Duration: | 5 minutes. |
| First known report date: | March 1, 2014 or earlier. |
| Reporting delay: | Hours, months? |
| Department: | Bas-Rhin |
|---|---|
| City: | Illkirch-Graffenstaden |
| Place: | A garden. |
| Latitude: | 48.524 |
| Longitude: | 7.716 |
| Uncertainty radius: | 3 km |
| Number of alleged witnesses: | 2 |
|---|---|
| Number of known witnesses: | 1 |
| Number of named witnesses: | 0 |
| Witness(es) ages: | Adult. |
| Witness(es) types: | Woman and daughter. |
| Reporting channel: | Reported to the UFO website "OVNI-France.fr". |
|---|---|
| Type of location: | From the garden of the home in village, UFO in the sky. |
| Visibility conditions: | Night |
| UFO observed: | Yes |
| UFO arrival observed: | Yes |
| UFO departure observed: | Yes |
| Entities: | No |
| Photographs: | No. |
| Sketch(s) by witness(es): | No. |
| Sketch(es) approved by witness(es): | No. |
| Witness(es) feelings: | Puzzled. |
| Witnesses interpretation: | ? |
| Hynek: | NL |
|---|---|
| ALSACAT: | Probable Chinese lantern. |
[Ref. ofe1:] "OVNI-FRANCE.FR" WEBSITE:
Date: 07-24-2013
Department: 67 (Bas-Rhin)
Localization: ILLKIRCH
Time: 10 p.m.
Numbers [sic] of witnesses: 2 people
Type of observation: NL: Nocturnal Lights
Approxima [sic] duration of the observation: 5 minutes
What was seen: an orange ball
Description of the facts:
I was in the garden and I looked at the sky when I saw an orange ball that I supposed was mars. However it as much too big, orange and above all in movement very slow and wobbly. I called my daughter to confirm what I was seeing. We stayed for a while watching then the ball rose to the east and in about 10 meters, its circumference diminished a lot and it extinct all of a sudden.
vali
|
Since the witness thinks of Mars then rules it out because of the size and movement, there was little chance that this planet is the orange ball she said she observed. Nevertheless, I checked and found that Mars was not visible from this location at this date and time.
One, or more, orange lights, this kind of move, this obviously screams "Chinese lanterns."
Here, we have the observation of the extinction of a Chinese lantern out of fuel: in a dozen meters, the circumference decreased considerably and it went out suddenly."
This was on a Wednesday, a working day not quite fit for wedding parties or any parties or other events in which Chinese lanterns are launched. But what do the people do to prepare for a Chinese lanterns launch on the next Saturday? They try one; to check whether it "works". This is why we generally get flotillas of lanterns on Saturday nights, and single "orange balls" on the working days evenings.
|
Above: a Chinese lantern.
Probable Chinese lantern.
* = Source is available to me.
? = Source I am told about but could not get so far. Help needed.
| Main author: | Patrick Gross |
|---|---|
| Contributors: | None |
| Reviewers: | None |
| Editeur: | Patrick Gross |
| Version: | Create/changed by: | Date: | Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | March 16, 2014 | Creation, [ofe1]. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | March 16, 2014 | First published. |
