Slow oval object over Isère attributed to a weather balloon, 1983

Summary

Between 8:15 and 8:45 a.m. on 25 April 1983, several witnesses in La Verpillière watched an oval object cross the sky very slowly from west to south-southwest. Its colour shifted between near-transparent and metallic silver. It was intermittently hidden by clouds before disappearing for good. Investigators concluded it was most likely a meteorological sounding balloon—a simple explanation consistent with all reported characteristics.