Sighting in Chalmazel, August 31, 2013

An amateur astronomer was watching the sky with two friends between about 10:40 pm and 11 pm. The witness noticed bursts of white light in the constellation Pegasus. Two other people had also seen the phenomenon, but they could not be interviewed. The witness described only four brief flashes and was struck by them.

GEIPAN rated the case as having low strangeness and medium consistency: several people saw the phenomenon, but only one account could be collected. The investigation concluded that it was probably a misidentification of a satellite at very high altitude spinning rapidly. At least seven such satellites were in the observed area during the time window the witness gave. The witness's visual perception was not in question; what mattered was their interpretation of what they saw, shaped by how it felt to them. The case was classified B (probably identified).