VEYTAUX (SU.VD) 15.10.2021

In the early evening of 15 October 2021, a couple travelling by car to Switzerland were stopped by a major traffic jam on the A9/E27, on a large bridge just beyond a tunnel near Fort de Chillon at Veytaux. The reporting witness thought he saw a second Sun about 15° north of the real Sun, at approximately the same height and apparently the same distance from him. It seemed only about a quarter as bright as the real Sun. At first the luminous mass appeared fixed. During nearly 20 minutes on the bridge, he gradually had the impression that it descended as the Sun set. Only 1 account was collected. GEIPAN assessed the evidential strength as very good: a single reporting witness provided a fairly complete account and sharp photographs locating the phenomenon in its surroundings; see the investigation report. The description and especially the photographs clearly identified a parhelion, or sundog, an optical phenomenon associated with the solar halo that appears 22° to either side of the Sun at the same angular elevation. Landscape details in the photographs confirmed its expected position. GEIPAN classified the case A: observation of a parhelion.