Sighting in Amman, January 31, 2023

An airline pilot, flying from Amman to Paris-Orly airport, saw several points of light moving across the sky for five to ten seconds each. Their brightness varied strongly before they vanished, and they followed two recurring paths. A colleague on board saw the same thing but did not give a statement. The sighting began at 20:10 UTC, as the aircraft was passing south of Milan, and ended over Lake Geneva, after roughly half an hour. The witness filmed part of what they saw.

The GEIPAN rated the case as having low strangeness but good consistency, since it rests on several witnesses and a video. It was identified as flashes from Starlink satellites in operational orbit. The long duration, the small area of sky, and the moving points changing in brightness before disappearing all fit this phenomenon. After identifying the stars visible in the video, a check in Stellarium showed the phenomenon was 45° above the Sun's apparent position, with the Sun about 38° below the horizon. These conditions allow sunlight to reflect off parts of the satellites, known as "cluster flares". Many Starlink satellites were also passing near the star Markab along two main axes, matching those seen in the video. The case is classified A. It closely resembles three other GEIPAN investigations, and together they support a technical note and a news item.