VIEILLE-TOULOUSE (31) 09.03.2022

On the evening of March 9, 2022, a Vieille-Toulouse resident saw a round white-blue light apparently stationary toward Aries. It lasted five to six seconds before going out. There was one witness and no photograph of the phenomenon, but the account was sufficiently complete and precise for GEIPAN to rate its evidential consistency good, with medium residual strangeness. The investigation identified a brief reflection of the already-set Sun from an orbiting object. CNES's Operational Orbitography Centre confirmed that DELTA 2 R/B (2) [PAM-D] rocket debris, catalogue number 28876, matched the reported time, azimuth and elevation. Its point-like appearance, white brightness, short duration and disappearance in the open sky supported that identification. GEIPAN classified the case A: a satellite-debris flash. Here, evidential consistency refers to the amount of reliable, objectively supported information available, not proof of an extraordinary event.