Near Tubingen, GERM being encounter — December 5, 1557

The Atlas dates this historical sky report near Tübingen to December 5, 1557. The text quoted in Vallée’s works instead gives December 5, 1577, around sunrise, at Altorf in Württemberg. The twenty-year discrepancy remains unresolved within the catalogue record and should not be concealed by an exact-year image title. The account describes dark clouds around the sun, followed by red, fiery and yellow appearances and coloured effects compared with broad, tall hats. Zentralbibliothek Zürich preserves the associated broadsheet, printed by Bernhard Jobin in 1578. Its catalogue describes red and yellow suns, a dark cloud represented as a mass of soldiers, and patches of light depicted as coloured hats. These are historical representations, not evidence of metal spacecraft or visible occupants. Jason Colavito’s comparison of the longer text argues that atmospheric effects, possibly sundogs, were transformed into an apparent vehicle story through selective quotation. That is an interpretation, while the surviving broadsheet and date variation are documentary facts. No supported humanoid description accompanies the cited passage. The plate therefore presents a sixteenth-century sky-portent illustration with representative local observers and coloured light effects, explicitly preserving the 1557/1577 conflict and omitting invented aliens.