[D934] DE GAN (64) VERS SEVIGNACQ-MEYRACQ (64) 02.03.2022

On 2 March 2022, a woman driving between Gan (64) and Sévignacq-Meyracq (64) stopped to photograph the sky and clouds. She saw no UAP. The Sun was in every photograph. Back home, she noticed a luminous point in different positions in the pictures. She sent GEIPAN the photographs and a questionnaire, followed later by permission to publish. After studying the images, GEIPAN identified a common internal camera reflection. Sunlight is so intense that the image is saturated at the Sun's position. Optical systems transmit light but, despite antireflection coatings, some light—typically less than 1%—is reflected. The phenomenon appears opposite the Sun across the image center, corresponding to the camera's optical axis. As the Sun's position changes between photographs, the reflection also moves while remaining symmetric about the center. Drawing 2 diagonals on each image locates that center and optical axis. A straight line joining the phenomenon to the Sun passes through it. Because the solar signal is so strong, even fractions of a percent reflected internally can produce a visible spot against a darker background. This spot is symmetric to the Sun about the optical center. In optics it is called a “ghost” or “ghost image”: an unwanted image produced by reflections within the optical system. GEIPAN classifies the case A: photographic artifact.