VILLERS-SOUS-SAINT-LEU (60) 02.04.2012

A witness in Villers-sous-Saint-Leu (60) reported repeated evening observations of a bright point in April 2012, including naked-eye and binocular viewing on 2 April. On successive days it descended slowly toward the horizon and disappeared around 00:30. GEIPAN finds this rate of movement clearly characteristic of a setting celestial body. Venus was especially bright in the evening sky then, with the source giving magnitude −5.2. The reported shapes probably resulted from overinterpreting visual or optical imperfections made conspicuous by a bright point at night. GEIPAN classifies the case A: Venus, particularly bright on those nights.