SAUSSINES (34) 03.03.2022

On 3 March 2022 at about 00:20 in Saussines (34), witnesses at home noticed a curious bright “star” to the west. Intrigued by its brightness and rays of light, they went onto the terrace and watched for half an hour. The UAP seemed stationary and gave off blue, red and green lights. Tired, they returned to bed after that half-hour while the phenomenon remained visible. They recorded 4 videos using zoom. The case has good evidential support, with a detailed, high-quality account and 4 videos used in the investigation. GEIPAN's website explains its criteria for evidential consistency. The investigation concluded that the witnesses had observed Sirius (see the investigation note), based on: - A point-like, star-like appearance to the naked eye, with constantly changing shapes in the videos caused by scintillation. - High brightness. - Multiple, changing colors, described in the analysis as reported only in the videos, caused by a combination of chromatic aberration and atmospheric scattering of light. - An azimuth and elevation very close to those of Sirius at a time when the star was clearly visible. The perceived strangeness lay in the apparent lack of movement and the changes in shape and color seen when zooming in. GEIPAN established that the immobility was only apparent: at night, without reference points, a celestial object's slow movement is almost impossible to perceive. It attributed the changes in shape and color to 3 combined effects: chromatic aberration, stellar scintillation and atmospheric scattering. GEIPAN classifies the case A: observation of Sirius.