Sighting in Bas-Rhin, April 11, 1980

On the night of 11 to 12 April 1980, between about 11:50 pm and 12:30 am, four witnesses watched a coloured light in a clear, starry sky for over half an hour, from several locations. It looked motionless whenever they stopped, but seemed to follow them when they drove, staying on their left along the road. On reaching the village, it appeared to go around the church, and it stayed at the crossroads when the vehicle came to a halt. The witnesses placed it above the Liebfrauenberg castle, or near the radars of the Drachenbronn base. It finally disappeared at around 12:25 or 12:30 am. One witness described a yellow trail and a departure northward, while another mentioned it moving away quickly toward Lobsann. The gendarmerie recorded these accounts in two reports.

GEIPAN re-examined the case, which had first been classed D. It found that Venus, very bright, was at an elevation of 6.2° at 11:50 pm, in the direction the witnesses indicated, at an azimuth of about 300°. The local terrain hid it around 12:20 am, which matches the reported time of disappearance within the margins of error. None of the witnesses recognised Venus even though the sky was clear. They therefore misjudged its distance, which explains the "following ball" illusion. The colour changes and the jerky drops in height are typical of Venus low on the horizon. The final departure to the northeast and the crossing of the road were described by only one witness, whose account differed from the other three. These details were not retained. GEIPAN classed the case as A: sightings of Venus.