Sighting in Émanville, August 22, 2016

Since 22 August, the witness had been puzzled by a bright object that seemed to hang motionless in the sky, and which they had noticed from several different places. With the naked eye, they saw a colored point of light that moved from left to right, dropped lower, then returned to where it had started. Both with the naked eye and through a telescope, they made out red, blue and green hues. Other people were said to have seen the phenomenon too, but only one account was collected.

The direction given was north-north-east, where Capella is located. Later, after discussions with their astronomy club, the witness concluded they had actually seen Arcturus, which lies due west and higher in the sky, at about 30°. Since the witness knew the compass directions well from their home, the GEIPAN favored Capella.

The GEIPAN classified the case as B: the witness saw a star. The movement they described matches a typical illusion, which the witness themself acknowledged, in which a star stared at for a while seems to move.