Sighting in Chavanges, February 16, 2019

A witness watched a luminous phenomenon from the first floor of their house on two nights: the night of 15 to 16 February 2019, and again the night of 18 to 19 February. The light appeared motionless in the sky, low above the horizon. On each occasion the witness watched it for close to an hour, on and off. They described it as a large star, brighter than the other stars around it, which seemed to follow a curved path down and to the right. At times they noticed a blue light, which turned out to be chromatic aberration. Only this one witness reported the sighting.

The witness took a few photographs, two of which made it possible to identify the phenomenon. They show reference points in the sky that point to Sirius (Alpha Canis Majoris), the main star of the constellation Canis Major. Apart from the Sun, it is the brightest star in the sky.

All the usable data confirm that the witness mistook Sirius for an unknown phenomenon. GEIPAN therefore classified the case as A: an astronomical misidentification of this remarkable star.