Sighting in Buironfosse, November 19, 2009

At about 5:30 in the evening, a witness noticed a light moving slowly across the sky from west to east. It made no sound, and the sighting lasted around three minutes. The witness sent their account to GEIPAN a few weeks later, on 17 December 2009. The case belonged to a series of sightings reported in the local area.

At first, by comparing it with other reports, GEIPAN concluded that the witness had probably seen a nightclub searchlight, and rated the case B in 2011. A re-examination, carried out with new software tools and the experience gained since then, changed that view. The duration, shape, size, colour and trajectory described match those of the International Space Station (ISS). The ISS was indeed in the part of the sky the witness was looking at, though the witness did not mention it. Another sighting recorded at the same time, clearly identified as an ISS pass, gave a matching description.

GEIPAN considers that the witness's eyesight was not at fault, but that their interpretation was influenced by how they felt at the time (astonishment, tiredness). The case, of low strangeness, is now classed A: a misidentification of the ISS.