An account in Alpes-Maritimes, France

On April 28, 2016, between 9:06 PM and 9:30 PM, then again around midnight, two people were camping at the summit of Puy-de-Tourettes. Settled into their sleeping bags in the hollow of a sinkhole, the witnesses noticed the presence of a bright, clear point of light the size of a large star. They were intrigued by the movements of this point. The witness provided two photographs that are unfortunately very hard to use because they are heavily blurred (photos taken with a handheld camera). Of high strangeness and good consistency (two witnesses, photos, but lack of precision in the testimony), this case turns out to be a very probable misidentification with the planet Jupiter, combined with a prior observation of a satellite in a twilight sky, with the witnesses' confusion merging the two observations into a single object (see the investigation report). Many details make it possible to establish a misidentification with the planet Jupiter: similar description, shift in the sky over the course of the night, apparent stillness during the observation for nearly 30 minutes, and above all the positioning of the UAP similar to that of the planet Jupiter. The witness also indicated that the disappearance of the UAP could have revealed the position of the planet Jupiter, previously hidden by the UAP. However, it should be noted that the witness makes an error in interpreting their observation, since they state that Jupiter was not visible to the naked eye before 9:30 PM, whereas visibility conditions were perfect: completely clear sky, and a more transparent atmosphere since the observation site is located in the mountains. In any case, Jupiter was therefore perfectly visible at the start of the observation phase. This interpretation error is mainly due to the fact that the witness used as a reference the appearance of Jupiter in the sky the following day, in a lowland sky and with weather conditions degraded compared to the previous day. The first phase of the observation strongly suggests the passage of a bright satellite, which is very difficult to identify due to the lack of precision in the testimony, but there were several satellite passages at that time and in that region of the sky near Jupiter that could have caused such a misidentification. The various jerky movements observed of the UAP are entirely typical of an optical illusion caused by uncontrolled eye movements (nystagmus). The case is classified as B, very probable misidentification with a satellite and the planet Jupiter.