An account in Eure-et-Loir, France

On February 18, 1980, several people observed from the courtyard of a dwelling a peculiar luminous phenomenon surrounded by a misty halo. A whitish glowing ball remained motionless near another object resembling a crescent moon. This observation lasted several minutes, then the phenomenon began to move from right to left and from top to bottom for about twenty minutes. The object then moved at high speed along a northwest trajectory. Its volume seemed three times larger than the celestial bodies around it, and it shone more brightly. It gradually disappeared as it moved away. No noise was heard during the observation. No other testimony about this phenomenon was collected. However, a few days later, the local press reported the observation of an "earthshine," the ashen light that accompanies the new moon and which can be accompanied by particular visual effects when atmospheric disturbances are added. Examination of the sky chart favors the hypothesis of an astronomical observation. Indeed, the Moon (magnitude -7.70) was visible until 9:02 PM, then passed below the horizon. At that date (the new moon was on the 16th), only a thin crescent was visible. Venus was located just above the moon (magnitude -4.19). Furthermore, the earthshine phenomenon (or ashen light) is visible when the Earth, the Moon, and the Sun are almost aligned. Seen from our planet, the Moon presents a very thin crescent, but the Earth, seen from our satellite, is in full phase and shines fully. It is the earthshine that makes the unlit part of the moon glow very faintly. After the new moon, the phenomenon is observable in the evening from the third to the fifth day, and before the new moon, it will be in the morning, from the fifth to the third day before the following lunation. One can therefore say without risk that the main witness who made the observation around and rather before 9 PM saw the moon (with an earthshine) and just above it Venus. The gendarmes who made the observation at 9:15 PM caught sight of Venus before it too disappeared below the horizon, the moon having already disappeared for about twelve minutes. It is true that the witnesses report "rapid" movements and a rapid displacement before disappearance. It is probable that the witnesses here unconsciously exaggerated these movements, due to the proximity of the horizon and perhaps also to a phenomenon of "autokinetic movement" (impression of movement when one stares intensely at something).