Sighting in Chardogne, March 20, 2011

At around 8:30 p.m., a woman driving noticed a light in the sky that intrigued and frightened her. As she drove, the light seemed to follow her and to move, particularly up and down. It also appeared to change color. The witness was heading east/north-east and placed the light to her left.

The investigation concluded that she had mistaken the star Deneb for something unusual. Deneb is one of the brightest stars in the sky and one of the three corners of the Summer Triangle. To the left of a road running E/NE lies the N/NE direction, exactly where the star was shining. The object stayed in the same direction throughout; because it was extremely distant, it gave the impression of following the driver. The vertical movements were an illusion, since they were judged against the horizon of the landscape, which keeps changing along the route. The color changes of a point of light near the horizon are explained by atmospheric turbulence. The case was classified A: an astronomical observation of the star Deneb.