An account in Lot, France

A witness reports several observations of luminous phenomena of several colors in the night sky during the months of January and February 2017. There is a series of UAP observations. One UAP was observed by the witness, his partner, and two police officers who came to the scene. The information gathered during the GEIPAN telephone contact with one of the police officers, then later with the main witness, makes it possible to establish that there was a misidentification with Arcturus regarding the observation made jointly by the witnesses and the police officers (0:50 AM to 1:40 AM on January 24). The elevation and azimuth indications provided by telephone (witness) do correspond, with Arcturus moving between 14 and 25 degrees of elevation and between 75 and 85 degrees East. The same applies to the perceived levels of light intensity compared to other stars. Sources of misidentification are fairly common when this star is observed at low elevation. The thickness and turbulence of the atmosphere disturb the light rays (scintillation), creating changes in colors and the impression of movement. An even stronger impression of movement can also result from an autokinetic phenomenon (see the article the autokinetic effect), particularly when one stares very attentively at a point of light. The fact that the witness's other observations also correspond to stars known to cause this type of misidentification reinforces this explanation. In the evening around 8:00 PM, the UAP observed could create the same effect at roughly the same place in the sky, but in that case it was Procyon. Likewise, the one observed on February 27 at 2:30 AM and opposite in azimuth (250 degrees from the other side of the house) could be explained by Sirius (15 degrees of elevation). Consequently, GEIPAN classifies all the observations as observations of stars (not always the same one).