TOURS (37) 30.07.2014

On 30 July 2014 at about 23:15, a witness sitting in his garden in Tours (37) saw a very intense white oval light surrounded by a bluish halo. It moved without flashing at an aircraft-like speed, appeared to gain altitude and disappeared. Other points of light were also seen. GEIPAN considers a few-second sighting of a very bright white light moving at an aircraft-like angular speed suggestive of a satellite along part of its path. The attached Calsky listing shows numerous satellites overhead at the time with differing visibility; smaller magnitude numbers indicate greater brightness. At precisely 23:16 it lists an Iridium flare, a temporary reflection of sunlight from a highly reflective satellite surface that is relatively rare at a given location. GEIPAN considers this probably what was seen, although the questionnaire is ambiguous about the light's sky position. As the satellite moves along its orbit and changes orientation relative to the Sun, the reflection fades. GEIPAN explains that observers often interpret the fading as movement away, as happened here. The second part of the sighting could correspond to the formation-flying NOSS 3 satellites 4A and 4C. Their magnitude of around 4 is compared in the source with stars barely visible to the naked eye, and their apparent ground-viewed path is described as a great circle. GEIPAN classifies the case as A: observation of satellites.