Ardèche, France · 2010-02-03 · from the GEIPAN archive
An orange orb in Ardèche, France
A witness reports to the gendarmerie and GEIPAN an observation of a luminous phenomenon made from their home on Wednesday, February 3, 2010, around 4 p.m. The direction and elevation according to the first reconstruction photograph correspond exactly to the position of the Sun. It is therefore natural that the object is dazzling despite the sunglasses, that it changes shape and color, and that the interior lights appear dim and pink or orange in color (QT p.2 to 4). The phenomenon moreover disappears with the setting of the Sun (QT p.15) behind the mountains. In this context, the second object described, whose position is given by the 2nd photograph, can simply be a consequence of the prolonged observation of the Sun, namely a phenomenon of retinal persistence.
The witness cites his neighbor, whom he contacted by telephone during the observation. The latter's statements, reproduced by the witness, are equivocal: it is alternately a question of a "spoutnik" or a fireball, depending on whether one consults the hearing report or the Terrestrial questionnaire.
Celestial bodies very low on the horizon are sometimes interpreted by witnesses as much closer and at low altitude.
This case is classified B as probable confusion with the Sun, followed by a dazzling effect resulting from its observation.
Thanks to new technical means (software) and the investigation experience acquired over all these recent years, this re-examination sometimes leads to new remarks or even a change of classif…
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This observation case was re-examined (see the document Investigation Notes). On January 13, 1978, at around 5:40 p.m., a female driver and then her husband observed the slow movement of a l…
the accounts read alike, found by meaning rather than by shared details
This observation case is one of those classified as "C" by GEPAN, under the name SAINT-CYR L'ECOLE (78) 21.07.1980. It was recently re-examined (see the document Investigation Notes).
On Jul…
the accounts read alike, found by meaning rather than by shared details
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This is an official case file of GEIPAN, the French space agency's unidentified aerospace phenomena office, machine translated from French. The original text and the full investigation file are at geipan.fr. We reproduce it with thanks and remove anything on request.