An account in Puy-de-D�me, France

GEIPAN continues to publish all of its archives on its public website www.geipan.fr. Among its publications are old cases classified at the time as type "C" cases, which are now being re-examined, for the sole purpose of being more relevant in the conclusions. Thanks to new technical means (software) and the investigative experience acquired over all these recent years, this re-examination sometimes leads to new remarks or even a change of classification explained in an investigation note. This observation case is one of the cases classified as "C" in 1991 by SEPRA and previously named Cournon-d'Auvergne (63) after the gendarmerie brigade. On September 19, 1991 at 5:25 a.m., the Cournon d'Auvergne (63) gendarmerie was notified by a witness living in Clermont-Ferrand (63) of the presence of a luminous point in the sky. The gendarme on duty managed to observe the UAP. A second anonymous witness contacted the gendarmerie at 5:30 a.m. to report the presence of the UAP, and a third call at 5:40 a.m. from the Clermont-Ferrand police station confirmed the facts. The UAP is described as having the appearance of a "big star," "giving off a strong white light." The apparent size of the UAP was very small, as it is compared to a "luminous point." Observation with binoculars provided no detail. The described phenomenon presents many common characteristics (observation duration, size, color) with a perfectly known astronomical object: the planet Venus. Moreover, this planet was indeed present and of strong magnitude in the area of the sky observed, while the witnesses do not mention it. It is not the visual perception of the witnesses that is in question, but the interpretation that the witnesses make of their observation through their feelings (astonishment, fatigue, nighttime observation). In GEIPAN's current classification, this case of low strangeness is classified as UAP A, observation linked to a misidentification with the planet Venus.