Sighting in Beuste, August 23, 2015

Two witnesses saw a luminous phenomenon crossing the night sky at around 10:25 pm, moving at a constant speed. Its path shifted slightly several times, first heading north, then north-west, and finally north again, which puzzled the observers. Only one questionnaire was completed.

GEIPAN rated the case as moderately strange but sufficiently consistent, since the account contained many precise, coherent details that made it credible. It nonetheless turned out to be a classic misidentification of a satellite pass. Further research identified two very likely candidates: the Japanese IGS 5 H2A rocket, whose brightness matches that of the phenomenon and whose trajectory is very close, and Iridium 16, an uncontrolled satellite whose trajectory and apparent speed match those observed. GEIPAN classified the case as A (misidentification of a satellite), while noting that some doubt remains about exactly which satellite it was.