Sighting in Chartres, August 31, 2012

A passenger in a car travelling from Chartres towards Caen noticed a very bright, fire-yellow phenomenon low on the horizon, which they could not explain. It seemed to move forward in step with the vehicle. The witness took a photograph. The driver also saw the light, but only one questionnaire was collected. The witness did not say precisely where the sighting took place or which road they were on, and the investigation did not establish this either. The sighting dated from 31 August 2012 and was reported to the GEIPAN in 2015.

The investigation took several points into account: the appearance, brightness and colour of the phenomenon; the Sun and the phenomenon being at the same height, both low on the horizon; clouds of a type favourable to the formation of a sundog (parhelion); a trail characteristic of a sundog; and an angular distance between the Sun and the phenomenon consistent with the small halo of a sundog. The GEIPAN concluded that what the witnesses saw was very probably a sundog, and classified the case as A, a certain observation of a parhelion.