Sighting in Fabrègues, September 2, 2019

From their south-facing terrace, a witness noticed a twinkling point of light in the clear sky to the south-east early in the morning. Through binoculars they saw a disc with three distinct flickers, appearing as white and coloured dots, and thought the disc seemed to change orientation. The light rose slowly and vanished completely at 06:07. On the next two mornings the witness looked south-east again at 5 a.m. and saw nothing. On the Thursday, at 05:29, the phenomenon reappeared; the witness woke their spouse, who also saw it. Photos and videos were taken. The point again climbed gradually and disappeared at 07:15. Only one questionnaire, filled in for both spouses, reached GEIPAN.

The investigation used Stellarium to show that Sirius was indeed in the south-east on those dates, at an elevation of about 10° and rising between 5 and 6 a.m. The photos place the light to the left of a street lamp, just above the rooftops. The houses formed a mask: at 5 a.m. the star was still too low to be seen, which explains the lack of sightings on the two days in between. The shapes seen through binoculars are most likely due to magnification of the light point or to the astigmatism the witness mentioned. The testimony was judged very consistent, with precise times, photos and videos. GEIPAN classified the case as A: a misidentification of the star Sirius.