RUSTREL (84) 14.03.2020

On 14 March 2020 at 22:34, a witness watching television from his sofa noticed a very bright point in the sky. The UAP appeared round and orange. After watching for some time, he filmed it with his mobile phone. He then left to wake his daughter and brought her back to see it, but it had disappeared. The video lasts 27 seconds and is unfortunately of poor quality because of the device used. Nevertheless, GEIPAN’s frame-by-frame examination shows brightness changes attributed to atmospheric transparency and high zoom. No movement is visible from frame to frame that would suggest a non-astronomical misidentification. The initial sighting lasted 7 minutes in total. The video supplies useful evidence for the case. The witness saw the same UAP several times afterwards, with its position varying with the time, setting to his right. GEIPAN considers identification as Sirius certain. A telephone interview resolved all ambiguity: the characteristics were now well established, and the additional information supplied by the witness strongly supported the explanation. GEIPAN commends his decision to film it. The investigation corrected an azimuth error, which the witness confirmed. His repeated sightings of the same phenomenon in the same place demonstrate, in GEIPAN’s assessment, a misidentification of Sirius. No strongly unusual feature remained after analysis. GEIPAN classifies the case A: a misidentification of Sirius.