Sighting in Beauvoisin, February 6, 2017

At about 8:45 pm, a driver noticed a very bright light in the sky. After getting home, the witness could still see it, motionless, and watched it through binoculars. The observation lasted 45 minutes, and then the witness left to visit friends. The next evening, at about 7:45 pm, the witness saw the same phenomenon again, a little higher in the sky than the day before. Only one account was collected.

According to GEIPAN, the description is typical of a celestial body: the observation was long and the light moved little or not at all, and it appeared two evenings in a row with a similar enough look and position that the witness described it as the same object. It was the planet Venus. The witness placed it in the northwest, but it was in the west, slightly toward the southwest. The witness's photograph, which shows the light's position against the landscape, made it possible to pin down this direction and match it to Venus. The position given for the following evening, an hour earlier, higher and further south, also matches Venus. The planet is brighter than the stars, and its colors can vary because of the thickness of atmosphere it is seen through near the horizon. The case is classified A: observation of the planet Venus.