MAFFLIERS (95) 29.06.2012

On 29 June 2012 around 06:06 (see investigation report for time precision), a walker alerted by his dog saw a white luminous object stationary at low altitude over a field beside woodland. In less than 20 seconds, he perceived it as very large, flat underneath and concave above. As rain began, it rose slightly, tilted and departed rapidly toward the cloudy sky. The frightened witness heard no particular sound and saw no smoke. No other account was collected. The event closely resembles, and coincided with, the familiar sight of the rising Sun between cloud layers. However, important details do not fit: - Its direction differed by 54° from the Sun, too much to attribute to uncertainty. - The tilt before disappearance might reflect a brightness-induced perceptual illusion or analogy with publicized UAP reports. - Its apparent size was nearly 10 times the Sun's image. Overestimation of the rising Moon's or Sun's apparent diameter is common, but rarely this large. GEIPAN investigators visited twice. The first visit checked the location and sightlines and ruled out an inadvertent directional estimate error. The second explored a complex reflection making the Sun appear elsewhere. No satisfactory hypothesis emerged. The weather was particularly unusual and could not be reproduced: intense heat and heavy rain the preceding day, followed by thick cloud that morning. Strangeness is moderate because the event resembles a familiar natural phenomenon but differs in at least 1 important feature. GEIPAN classifies the case D1: unexplained, with moderate substantiation.