SAINT-MAX (54) 06.06.2013

On 6 June 2013 at 22:50, several witnesses at home in Saint-Max (54) saw a white light travel silently from south to northeast before the landscape hid it. Information supplied by the witness, supported by Calsky records, demonstrates a passage of the International Space Station (ISS), visible above the town that evening. Its south-to-northeast path, reaching 60° elevation, matches the record; see the document. The witness's impression of brightness twice that of Venus also matches the ISS's calculated magnitude of -4.2 in those conditions. He described non-straight movement like an earthworm. GEIPAN explains this as a common optical illusion when tracking a very bright point against black; see its reference on perceived motion of lights in the sky. There is, however, about a 5-minute discrepancy between his reported time and the ISS bulletin. GEIPAN sent predictions for ISS passages on 8 and 9 June, and the witness confirmed that this was what he had seen. The case is classified A: observation of the ISS.