CANNES (06) 02.06.2023

On 2 and 3 June 2023 around 22:00, a Cannes couple saw a very bright stationary object on two consecutive evenings. A second couple of friends was present on 3 June and confirmed seeing it, but only one person submitted a GEIPAN questionnaire. Observations were made from several locations in Cannes. The witness gave a southward direction, whereas photograph analysis places it between west and west-northwest. Through binoculars it appeared to consist of several equally sized light points in constant motion, making the overall shape vary between a sphere and a crescent. Each observation lasted about 2 hours. Three mobile-phone photographs taken on 3 June show only one white point. The shapes and separate lights described from naked-eye and binocular viewing do not appear in them. On 1 July 2023, the witness reported another sighting and filmed it. The video again shows a white point without landmarks sufficient to locate it precisely in the sky. The case has very low strangeness and good evidential strength*: four observers but one account, plus photographs and video. It is an observation of Venus. *Under GEIPAN's criteria, evidential strength is the amount of information collected for an account that is considered reliable and objectively substantiated. Appearance and the direction corrected by the investigation fit Venus at the same times on consecutive evenings (see investigation report). If the UAP were something else, the photographs should show two nearby points, Venus and the UAP, rather than one. The UAP remained visible until Venus set. On 1 July it appeared lower, exactly matching Venus's expected position. The investigation attributes the changing binocular shapes to incorrect instrument adjustment. Precisely focusing on an isolated light without a distance reference is difficult. Under some conditions, the perceived image may overlap with images generated within the eye, an entoptic phenomenon, creating apparent movement. The case is classified A: observation of Venus.