MARSEILLE (13) 31.03.2018

On 31 March 2018 between 21:30 and 21:41, a witness on a balcony saw an intensely bright ball with varying colors descend slowly and disappear behind the Notre-Dame de la Garde hill. Only 1 account was collected. GEIPAN identifies Venus. The witness compared it to a star slowly falling from the sky in slow motion. During the roughly 10-minute sighting, Venus descended from 2° to 0.5° elevation. Although slow, this movement is clearly perceptible close to the horizon. Venus, at azimuth 283°, was slightly left of Notre-Dame de la Garde at 290° and right of Rigel at 237°, matching the UAP. The witness nevertheless ruled it out, believing the hill hid Venus. The attached reconstruction shows this was mistaken. In Venus's direction, the highest obstacle was about 60 m above the base of the witness's building, or 50 m above the witness on the fourth floor. At 3,900 m distance, its angular elevation was 0.7°. Venus was therefore visible at 2° and naturally disappeared behind the local horizon about 10 minutes later, when it was at 0.5°, below the 0.7° obstruction. The appearance matches Venus low above the horizon, with colors changing because of atmospheric effects. GEIPAN classifies the case A: Venus.