Sighting in Balma, December 21, 2013
Haute-Garonne, Occitanie, France
Sighting on December 21, 2013 in Balma (Haute-Garonne, France). GEIPAN identified the phenomenon with certainty: it was an atmospheric optical phenomenon (halo, sun dog…) (class A).
What happened
The account was gathered in February 2016 and concerned an observation made several years earlier. On 21 December 2013, between 16:29 and 16:33, a witness photographed a luminous phenomenon in a clear sky and could not explain it. No other witness came forward.
The GEIPAN investigation concluded that the phenomenon had all the characteristics of a sun dog (parhelion), which is part of a solar halo. The photographs supplied were not the original files, so GEIPAN could not confirm that the angle between the Sun and the phenomenon was exactly 22°. Even so, compared with reference images, the appearance of the phenomenon left no doubt. At the time of the observation the Sun stood 6°30 above the horizon, which is consistent with a 22° separation between it and the phenomenon.
The Toulouse-Blagnac weather record showed a southerly wind and a sharp drop in pressure, signs that a weather disturbance was approaching. Such a disturbance brings cirrus or cirrostratus, very high and very cold clouds whose ice crystals favour sun dogs. GEIPAN classified the case as A: observation of a characteristic sun dog.
Account rewritten by SkyUnknown from the investigation report published by GEIPAN (CNES). The original text and case documents are on the official record.
- Date
- December 21, 2013
- Location
- Balma · town centre
- Type of sighting
- From the ground
- Source classification
- A
- Explanation
- Optical phenomena
Sources
- See the original document
GEIPAN (CNES)
n° 2013-12-09412
Summary written by SkyUnknown from the facts published by the source.