JAUNAY-CLAN (86) 17.07.2013

Around 23:50 on 17 July 2013, a witness at home in Jaunay-Clan (86) saw a stationary bright white light, described as golden-white in the summary. It remained visible for 1 minute, went out, then lit up again for 30 seconds before disappearing completely. No further accounts were collected. GEIPAN considered several explanations. A planet temporarily hidden by cloud might look similar, but the sky chart showed no bright celestial body to the southeast. A satellite reflecting sunlight could produce a similar effect, but ordinarily for less time and without remaining stationary for 1 minute. CalSky listed several satellites in the field at the stated time and Iridium flares at 23:45 and 23:54, but those flares were in the opposite direction. A head-on aircraft with landing lights on could look stationary and disappear after turning when the observer was no longer in its beam. This could not be checked with air traffic records in time. GEIPAN assessed the case as low in strangeness with moderate evidential support, limited by a single account and no photograph, and classified it C for lack of corroborating information.