SAINTE-CATHERINE (62) 10.11.2014

On November 10, 2014, at 10 pm, a witness looks out of his window and sees a slightly flashing point of light in the sky. The UAP moves very slowly to the right, while changing color very quickly. The witness tries to take the UAP in a photo, without success. The observation stops between 0:45 am and 1:00 am. While the witness begins writing an Electronic Questionnaire (EQ) of the GEIPAN at around 1:40 am, he looks back through the window and sees the UAP again. He loses sight of it at around 2:30 am. Only one testimony will be collected. The length of the observation time (about 3 hours for the first phase and 45 minutes for the second) and the fact that the UAP moves very slowly to the right are quite characteristic of an astronomical misidentification. Moreover, the movement from the west to the north accompanied by a decrease in the angular height of the UAP is quite characteristic of the observation of a star observed to the northwest. If this hypothesis is correct, the observation of the UAP would therefore involve two different stars, assimilated into a single object by the witness, the absence of observation for 45 minutes between 1:00 and 1:45 in the morning favouring this type of confusion. The rapid colour changes of the UAP (red, green, blue) are also quite characteristic of the observation of a brilliant star, whose light is flickering because of upper-level winds. A re-enactment on Stellarium for 10 November 2014 at 10pm shows that a remarkably bright star, the star Vega (magnitude 0.0), is at a perfectly consistent azimuth with that of the UAP (297° vs. 298° estimated by the witness) (see the investigation report). With medium strangeness but sufficient evidential quality, this case proves to be a definite misidentification of Vega and Deneb, whose positions correspond exactly to that of the UAP at the indicated times. Moreover, the arrival of a rainy disturbance at the time of observation produced upper-level winds causing the stars to scintillate, corresponding to the rapid changes in UAP color. The small apparent movements perceived by the witness are the result of the autokinetic illusion. GEIPAN classifies the case A, misidentification of the stars Vega and Deneb.