SAINT-MALO (35) 25.07.2013

On 25 July 2013 at 00:05, a witness saw 3 white points of light moving silently across the sky in an equilateral triangle. A satellite-pass simulation using Calsky.com indicated that the YAOGAN9 satellite triplet was visible from the witness's location at the time. These satellites appear as 3 points of light in an equilateral triangle, separated by angular distances of about 1°, or twice the apparent diameter of the full Moon. They can reflect sunlight for a few seconds, producing a flare. The source refers to examples with very different fields of view: “Yaogan Satellite Triplet Flare” and, on the right at 40 seconds, “NOSS Yaogan Triplet Flare?” GEIPAN considers the witness's impression that stars were no longer visible inside the triangle a probable, familiar perceptual illusion associated with observing grouped lights. In his questionnaire, the witness gave the triangle's apparent size as 6 cm at arm's length, about 5–6°. In a separate message, he said that on 5 December 2013 at 02:40, the triangle formed by the middle star of the belt and the 2 feet had the same proportions, heading and elevation. That comparison triangle has sides of about 8°. GEIPAN cannot verify that a sunlight reflection occurred on the satellite at that exact moment. The substantial difference between the YAOGAN triplet's 1° spacing and the witness's reconstructed size of 5–8° leaves doubt about the hypothesis. Nevertheless, because of the almost exact agreement in time and position with the satellite passage, despite some inconsistencies with the account, GEIPAN classifies the case B: probable observation of sunlight reflected by the YAOGAN9 satellite triplet.