Sighting in Aix-en-Provence, July 15, 2010
Bouches-du-Rhône, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France
Sighting on July 15, 2010 in Aix-en-Provence (Bouches-du-Rhône, France). GEIPAN identified the phenomenon with certainty: it was the planet Venus (class A).
What happened
A witness watched the same luminous phenomenon on three evenings in a row, 15, 16 and 17 July 2010. It appeared at about 10 p.m. and vanished at about 11:10 p.m. Other people were present but did not give testimony. The main witness took photographs of the phenomenon.
They described a very bright point of light that showed up in the same spot each night for long stretches, up to an hour, while sinking toward the horizon. Reconstructing the direction of observation gave a cone centred on the west.
GEIPAN concluded that these features left no ambiguity: the witness had seen a celestial object. The planet Venus, with a strong magnitude of -4.1, was in the part of the sky that was observed. The case was classified A, as repeated sightings of Venus.
Account rewritten by SkyUnknown from the investigation report published by GEIPAN (CNES). The original text and case documents are on the official record.
- Date
- July 15, 2010
- Location
- Aix-en-Provence · town centre
- Type of sighting
- From the ground
- Source classification
- A
- Explanation
- Planets
Sources
- See the original document
GEIPAN (CNES)
n° 2010-07-02628
Summary written by SkyUnknown from the facts published by the source.