SAINT-PAUL (974) 03.10.2025

On “Tuesday, 3 October 2025” (the weekday/date pairing in the source), at approximately 6:56 p.m., the witness walked on the beach of La Saline, rue des Mouettes, in Saint-Paul (La Réunion). The sky was clear above the sea, with some clouds present on the land side. The environment was calm: no noticeable noise, no traffic, no aircraft engine. It was then that he noticed the presence in the sky of a single luminous phenomenon, of round shape, of white colour, with a constant and particularly intense brightness. A luminous halo surrounds the sphere. No noise was perceived throughout the observation. The object moved slowly from offshore toward land, apparently passing over the houses, always without emitting sound. Its intense brightness remained constant throughout its journey. The observation lasted about four minutes. The phenomenon continued on its path until it disappeared behind a cloud formation, where its light remained visible for a few moments before it was completely extinguished. During the observation, the witness photographed and filmed the UAP, with an iPhone 11 Pro. The evidential quality of this case, within the meaning of the GEIPAN* criteria, is good, despite a single testimony, which is largely corroborated by several photos and a UAP video. One of these photographs was analysed for the investigation. *According to the GEIPAN criteria, evidential quality is the amount of information collected for an account that is considered reliable and objectively established. The only hypothesis explored, that of observation of Starlink-3084 satellite is supported by the following: - Verification of the presence on the inthesky.org site in the Reunion sky between 6:55 and 7:00 pm of the Starlink-3084 satellite (Annex 1) lit by the Sun, which had set for the observer. A particularly intense brightness since this satellite is in the re-entry phase with an orbit located at ~170 to 220km (Annex 4), while the operational orbit STARLINK® is at ~550 km. - The position could be confirmed by analyzing a photograph transmitted by the witness, using the photo analysis software of GEIPAN, IPACO* (Appendix 2) compared with the available data on the modelling of its trajectory via intersky.org (Annex 3). The time shown on the map of the inthesky sky for the position is 18:58, approximately two minutes earlier than the time of the photograph, a difference that is explained when comparing a modelled trajectory with an object’s actual motion during atmospheric reentry. - The “ascending” straight path, perceived from west to east, is consistent with the direction of satellite displacement (south-southwest to north-northeast). - The bright white point results from strong sunlight reflected by the satellite. As a result, the GEIPAN classifies this case as "A": observation of a Starlink® satellite in the orbital decay phase, before atmospheric reentry.