CLICHY (92) 06.07.2015

In the case dated 6 July 2015 at Clichy (92), a witness reported several successive sightings of lights in the sky and recorded video. Only 1 account was collected. GEIPAN distinguishes 2 types of phenomenon. The stationary lights, clearly visible due west in the video, are Venus and Jupiter; the source refers to a sky chart. Venus is particularly clear at 30 seconds, with Jupiter faintly visible slightly to its right at the same elevation. The source states that they set at 23:45 that day. Several other lights moved slowly and irregularly from west toward south; see the map. They were yellow or yellow-orange and resembled a large aircraft landing light approaching head-on from the horizon. The apparent splitting could represent 2 aircraft whose projected paths overlapped and then separated. Changes in brightness could result from heading changes, since a landing light appears brightest when the observer is aligned with the aircraft. GEIPAN considers aircraft approaching an airfield a plausible explanation: beyond 15 km their flashing lights are much less visible than their landing lights. However, the report arrived too late to compare it with air traffic records, so that hypothesis could not be confirmed. GEIPAN identifies Venus and Jupiter as the stationary lights but classifies the moving lights C; they appear to have been aircraft viewed head-on, with insufficient information for confirmation.