CEYRESTE (13) 31.08.2014

This account was submitted in April 2015 concerning an observation in August 2014. The witness reported that on 31 August 2014 between 03:00 and 05:30, he and a friend watched various lights in the sky, including shooting stars and aircraft. One light’s unusual sinusoidal path and subsequent flash particularly intrigued them. GEIPAN rates both strangeness and evidential support as low because the report was delayed, included a dating error and gave an imprecise time. It identifies a misidentification of 1 or more satellites. The flash, the most unusual part, is characteristic of an Iridium-type flare, but the late and imprecise account prevents identification of the specific satellite. The witness initially did not recognize a satellite because of its unusual sinusoidal path. When GEIPAN later contacted him, he acknowledged that it was a satellite and that the oscillations arose from a visual illusion described as nystagmus. Although the exact satellite could not be established, the case is classified A: a misidentification of a satellite.