BRION (71) 09.07.2016

On 9 July 2016 at about 23:15, a witness out at night in Brion (71) saw a 1-second white flash near Ursa Major. Being highly observant, he immediately remembered its location between the stars called “Merah” and Dubhe in the source. He first considered a stellar explosion, a nova or supernova, then thought it could not be an Iridium flare because its suddenness and intensity surprised him. No other account was collected. Those 2 features accounted for the apparent strangeness. GEIPAN favored sunlight reflected from an Earth-orbiting object; see the investigation report. JSatTrack checks placed ENVISAT very close to the reported flash location that night. GEIPAN classifies the case A: misidentification of the ENVISAT satellite.