Sighting in Cotignac, April 5, 2011
Var, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France
Sighting on April 5, 2011 in Cotignac (Var, France). According to GEIPAN, it was most probably a meteor or fireball (class B).
What happened
At 5:21 a.m., a motorist noticed a light appearing high in the sky. The witness described a very bright bluish ball that crossed the sky very quickly in a straight line. The object then turned orange and seemed to come to a stop before disappearing. The front-seat passenger saw the same thing as the driver. Only one account was collected.
GEIPAN considered the case to have low strangeness and low to medium consistency, and found that it had all the characteristics of a meteoroid entering the atmosphere. A class A rating was nevertheless ruled out because there were no independent sources. The case was therefore classified B, as a probable bolide: atmospheric entry of a meteoroid.
Account rewritten by SkyUnknown from the investigation report published by GEIPAN (CNES). The original text and case documents are on the official record.
- Date
- April 5, 2011
- Location
- Cotignac · town centre
- Type of sighting
- From the ground
- Source classification
- B
- Explanation
- Meteors and fireballs
Sources
- See the original document
GEIPAN (CNES)
n° 2011-04-02769
Summary written by SkyUnknown from the facts published by the source.