TALLARD, GAP (05) 06.11.2013

During the night of 6–7 November 2013, Tallard resident T1 began observing and filming several lights at 23:55. He telephoned the Gendarmerie and civil aviation services. A patrol joined him, making further observations from 00:30 to 00:54. At 01:00, a gendarme at Gap, T2, saw a scintillating ball towards the south-east. T1 and the patrol stopped at 01:40; T2 stopped around 02:00. T1’s video is very poor, blurred and zoomed. The 2 locations had relatively clear skies (see the investigation report). GEIPAN finds astronomical characteristics in the scintillating lights and long durations. The analysis says over 2 hours at Tallard, although the listed start and stop are 23:55 and 01:40, and about 1 hour at Gap. GEIPAN explains the scintillation by upper winds, especially for stars low on the horizon, as these were. Nearby Alpine relief would reinforce those winds. The close agreement between actual positions of the brightest celestial bodies and the UAPs leaves no doubt in its assessment. The case has low strangeness and strong evidential support from several witnesses and video. GEIPAN identifies Rigel, Jupiter, Vega and Sirius very probably, visible directly in the reported directions under clear skies. The scintillation and UAP4’s slow movement also fit celestial bodies. The case is classified A: misidentification of very bright celestial bodies, Jupiter, Sirius, Vega and Rigel.