An account in Haut-Rhin, France

On July 26, 2009 at around 10:20 PM, a witness sitting on his terrace was observing the starry sky. For 7 to 8 seconds, he followed the linear south-north movement of a white luminous point at an elevation of 25° to 35°, which he took to be the movement of a satellite. After looking away from this luminous point for one to two seconds, the witness was surprised not to see it anymore on its trajectory. However, he found a luminous point beginning a turn toward the west lasting 2 to 3 seconds (in the direction of Habsheim airfield). This luminous point then took a linear trajectory at high speed, passing directly overhead of the witness. No particular noise was heard during the observation, which lasted 10 to 12 seconds and ended at 11:48 PM. The witness remained puzzled by the overall trajectory of the luminous point, including a change of direction and the significant acceleration of the phenomenon, with no noise heard. Even though nothing allows one to assert that it was the trajectory of a single luminous point, various hypotheses are ruled out: aircraft passages (no radar trace in the Rixsheim sector in the 11:30 PM–12:00 AM time slot), presence of celestial bodies (Jupiter too low on the horizon), and satellite passage (passage of COSMOS 1151-Rocket but at 57° elevation). The phenomenon, although not very strange, remains unexplained. The D1 classification is justified by the uniqueness of the testimony and the impossibility of estimating the distance of the phenomenon.