Sighting in Bierre-lès-Semur, July 18, 1978

At around 4 a.m. during the night of 17 to 18 July 1978, a camper noticed a stationary glowing phenomenon low in the sky. They described it as an orange ball shaped like a saucer or an upturned plate. The witness took three photographs. The phenomenon then faded away, first slowly and then quickly, toward the south. No sound was heard during the observation.

The gendarmerie found no other witnesses in the surrounding area, and the developed photographs showed nothing useful. The case, originally classified D, was re-examined. The fiery orange colour and the low position toward the south-west fit a celestial body setting. A Stellarium check puts the Moon at an azimuth of 240°, the direction in which the witness placed the initial phase of the phenomenon, about 2° above the horizon. Clouds were forming at that hour, and the Moon seen through gaps in cloud can take many shapes, including the one described. The final movement toward the south, which is very poorly documented, remains compatible with a gap in the clouds drifting with the wind, as seen from a heading of 240°.

The GEIPAN considers that the witness's perception is not in question, but rather their interpretation of it, influenced by tiredness and surprise. The case, of low strangeness, is classified B: probably a misidentification of the Moon.