Probable meteorite over the Lot department in 1985

Summary

On the night of January 24, 1985, two witnesses in the Lot department saw two flashes followed by a brief intense glow. A milky, rugby-ball-shaped object wrapped in a white halo then drifted slowly and silently for several minutes. Detonations were heard afterward, though power at the witnesses' home was not interrupted. Other observers in the area reported similar sightings.

GEIPAN reviewed the case, originally classified as D, and reclassified it as A, attributing it to a meteorite entering the atmosphere. The intense light, halo, delay between the visual phenomenon and the detonations, and corroborating testimonies are all consistent with that hypothesis. The reclassification reflects GEIPAN's improved tools and accumulated expertise.