An account in Morbihan, France

On March 26, 2012 around midnight, a witness in Ploeren (56) observes from his terrace the movements of a luminous object in the sky toward the south. Intrigued, he calls the gendarmerie and a patrol is sent to the scene and confirms the witness's observation. The patrol moves to Baden and still observes the phenomenon. Another gendarmerie unit will confirm from the semaphore of the barre d'Etel the presence in the southwest at an elevation of 20° of a scintillating luminous point between 0:45 and 1:05. A final observation will be made from the GERBAM of Gâvres. The PAN disappears while rising at 1:50. This observation is on one hand complex because it comes from several witnesses located in different places; on the other hand it is not precise enough, concerning the azimuths and elevation of the phenomenon according to the observation phase. The descriptive accounts of the observed object have all the characteristics of very bright stars observed near the horizon (color change, apparent lateral and back-and-forth movements). It is however difficult to determine with certainty the star observed, and one can consider that 2 or 3 stars may have been noticed successively: Sirius, Procyon, and Betelgeuse, due to temporary masking by the cloud veil that followed the afternoon rain. Note also that none of the witnesses mentions Sirius or another star, which would have made it possible to locate the phenomenon relative to these stars, and to rule out this hypothesis. In any case, due to the absence of any phenomenon noticed by the patrol aircraft, and on the radars, one can affirm that the phenomenon was very distant. With all these elements, the GEIPAN concludes on the probable observation of Sirius, followed by Procyon and/or Betelgeuse.