CLARET (04) 22.08.2012

On 22 August 2012 at 22:19 in Claret (04), a witness saw a point of light move initially in a straight line, then jerk from side to side before disappearing. GEIPAN finds its appearance and direction match an International Space Station passage to within 1 minute. It attributes temporary disappearance to changes in reflected sunlight as the station rotated. The side-to-side movements are identified as an autokinetic illusion. The source refers to pages 26 and 30 of http://www.cnes-geipan.fr/typo3conf/ext/dam_frontend/pushfile.php?docID=9932 and explains that this occurs when a tracked point lacks surrounding fixed references, for example in an area without very bright stars. The case is classified A: the ISS with an autokinetic illusion.