SAN-GAVINO-DI-TENDA (20) 10.12.2025

On 10 December 2025 at 22:22, T1 observed a bright point to the southeast from his terrace in San-Gavino-di-Tenda, described by the source as Corse-du-Sud. It changed between white, blue, green and red and was much brighter than nearby stars. He estimated its elevation at 20°–25° and heard no sound. He filmed with strong smartphone zoom, saying he held the phone perfectly still to avoid unwanted movement, and noticed a slight rightward shift of a few millimetres in the image. The night was particularly clear. The account gives a 30-minute sighting during which the light moved north and returned to its original position. T2, from the same village, also confirmed its presence. GEIPAN judged the evidential support good because a usable video was available, although only T1 completed a questionnaire. It defines evidential support as the amount of information collected for an account that is considered reliable and objectively established. The witness perceived little strangeness and no particularly exceptional features. GEIPAN identified Sirius on the following grounds: - Strong zoom made a point-like source appear spherical in the video. - Rapid changes in colour and brightness resembling flashing were characteristic of scintillation in a star low on the horizon. GEIPAN attributed this to atmospheric layers of different density and temperature dispersing starlight (Annex 1, Figure 1). Bastia station data confirmed exceptionally clear conditions, with horizontal visibility of 60 km at 22:00 and still 35.7 km at 23:00 (Annex 1, Figure 2). - Stellarium placed Sirius rising in the southeast and moving southward, to the observer's right. - Between 22:22 and 23:02, Sirius's elevation rose from approximately 14° to 19°, close to T1's 20°–25° estimate (Annex 1, Figure 3). - The questionnaire's rightward-motion description matched this southward course, also shown by the processed-video animation in Annex 2. This differs from the opening account's northward movement and return; both source descriptions are retained. - T1 stopped watching without seeing the light disappear, while Sirius continued across the sky. The source's astronomical comparison spans 40 minutes despite the stated 30-minute sighting. After assessing the remaining strangeness against the Sirius explanation, GEIPAN classified the case A: Sirius.