An account in Bouches-du-Rh�ne, France

On March 31, 2018 between 9:30 PM and 9:41 PM, a witness on their balcony is intrigued by a bright ball of strong intensity and varied colors. The UAP follows a descending trajectory and slowly disappears behind the hill of Notre Dame de La Garde. Only one testimony is collected. The witness saw Venus. They use the following expression: "The most descriptive analogy is as if a star were slowly falling from the sky, in slow motion." Indeed, Venus, low on the horizon, "falls from the sky in slow motion," because over the duration of the observation (10 minutes) Venus goes from 2° to 0.5°. It is slow, but when observed close to the horizon the movement is clearly perceptible. Venus (283° azimuth) is indeed slightly to the left of Notre Dame de la Garde (290°) and to the right of Rigel (237°) like the UAP described by the witness. But the witness rules out Venus because they are convinced that Venus is hidden by the hill of Notre Dame de la Garde. And they are wrong. The attached reconstruction shows that in the line of sight toward Venus, the highest obstacle is about 60m higher than the base of the witness's building, or about 50m higher than the witness on the 4th floor. Located at 3900 m, this point corresponds to an elevation of 0.7° and therefore Venus at 2° is visible and it is normal that after 10 minutes it has passed below the horizon (at 0.5° for an obstacle at 0.7°). The appearance of the UAP is perfectly consistent with Venus low on the horizon, with changing colors due to atmospheric effects. Consequently, GEIPAN classifies the case as A: Venus.