SAINTE-CLOTILDE (974) 11.03.2014

On 11 March 2014 at 03:05, a witness in Sainte-Clotilde (974) looked left from a south-facing window, therefore eastward, and saw a very bright point rising slowly for 40 minutes. His drawing placed it at azimuth 109°. The sky chart places brilliant Venus rising at azimuth 107° in the reported direction; see the 2 WinStars charts for 03:05 and 03:40. GEIPAN classifies the case A: observation of Venus. GEIPAN suggests he failed to recognise it partly because celestial bodies near the horizon can be interpreted as objects above the landscape, and partly because of unusual weather. Infoclimat recorded only 66% humidity during the night of 10–11 March, which the source links to exceptionally clear skies rare in the region, compared with at least 76% in the week's other records. GEIPAN adds that, had it been something else, the witness looking directly towards Venus would have seen both the phenomenon and Venus.