UTELLE (06) 31.07.2013

From midnight on 31 July 2013, a witness on the Madonne d'Utelle plateau was intrigued by a slowly moving luminous ball apparently at high altitude, flashing at regular intervals. Among the many satellites visible on summer evenings, GEIPAN suggests that a rocket's third stage could match the sighting. The source identifies it as the rocket that launched the American LAGEOS satellite in 1963; that identification and date are reproduced as stated in the source. In the Calsky document, a sky chart facing northwest, with Ursa Major on the right, shows a white line representing the object's path over 30 minutes. GEIPAN explains that such objects are almost always rotating, so a reflective component can periodically reflect strong sunlight toward an observer, producing a flash. However, uncertainty about the phenomenon's position in the sky prevents confirmation. GEIPAN classifies the case as B: a probable sighting of a satellite or piece of debris at high altitude, with rotation producing periodic flashes.