Meteoroid observed by hundreds across southern France

Summary

At 11:00 PM on June 6, 1983, a fast, elongated light streaked across the skies of southern France. Hundreds of people from the Alps to the Eastern Pyrenees reported it in observations lasting under twenty seconds. Twenty-nine recorded testimonies agreed on the elongated shape and precise timing, pointing to a single phenomenon visible over a vast area. GEIPAN concluded it was the atmospheric entry of a meteoroid—an event easily documented today by automatic cameras but lacking visual records at the time. The B classification reflects the high likelihood of this explanation.