Sighting in Grand-Couronne, April 17, 2016

On a Sunday evening, around 9:12 pm, a couple noticed a bright, round shape in a clear sky, twinkling in several colors. The Moon was to the left of the spot, along with another very bright star. One of the witnesses filmed it, and its position was marked against the roof opposite (photo and sketch). The witness described the object as a "pinhead" and said it moved slightly in straight lines, left to right and back and forth. The witnesses also saw an aircraft pass above the object. Around 10:25 pm they looked at the sky again and the object was gone. A work colleague reportedly saw the same thing, but only one testimony was collected.

GEIPAN concluded that the witnesses had mistaken Sirius for something unusual: it lay in the direction the witness indicated (elevation 17°, azimuth 214°). The description and the twinkling fit a star, and the color changes can be explained by atmospheric turbulence. The star near the Moon, which did not twinkle, was Jupiter, whose light is not visibly affected by turbulence. The movements are most likely the autokinetic effect, although the fixed reference of the roof makes this less certain. The ISS is very unlikely, since the aircraft was identified and passed in that direction after the station had disappeared. Procyon is ruled out: the offset from the witness's marked position is too large, and the aircraft, seen above the object at 20° elevation, was higher than Procyon. The disappearance can be explained by a cloud, which were present that day, or more certainly by Sirius going behind the roof, at an elevation of 9°. The case was classified A.