ANGOULEME (16) 09.10.2010

An account submitted on 11 October 2012 describes a sighting in Angoulême (16) on 9 October 2010 at 01:20. Through binoculars, a witness saw a luminous object and was surprised by its brightness and colored points of light. A sky chart oriented toward his south-southwest viewing direction shows Jupiter at magnitude -2.9, brighter than every star. From 01:20 to 02:20, Jupiter moved westward from azimuth 193° to 220°, declining from 40° to 36° elevation. The witness placed the very bright object southwest, 45° west of south or azimuth 225°, contrasting with barely visible stars. GEIPAN notes a fairly humid southeasterly wind and attributes a brighter sky background, obscuration of faint stars and strong scintillation to these conditions, probably explaining green, white and red color changes. It classifies the case as B: probable observation of Jupiter. Differences of around 20° between the reported and astronomical positions leave uncertainty preventing classification A.