Sighting in Hayes, August 12, 1993

At around 3:30 a.m., a witness driving a car noticed a very bright, sparkling yellow light hanging motionless in the sky, first above a farm and then above the village château. They described it as a large glowing ball, bigger than a star, spinning silently on itself. Later they gave it the shape of a disc topped by a dome, or an "upside-down mushroom". Gradually the light grew dimmer and seemed to move away toward a nearby forest. Once home, the witness called their mother, a second witness. Standing on a chair, she saw a uniform yellow light, fixed in a starry sky, and went back to bed after a few minutes. The first witness watched until the phenomenon disappeared completely, twenty minutes in all. Both made statements to the gendarmerie.

The GEIPAN re-examined this case, originally classed D, using new tools. The observation was to the north-east, where Venus was rising, very low on the horizon (about 3°). The azimuths the witnesses gave match its position, nothing blocked the view and the sky was clear. The phenomenon's lack of motion also points to a celestial body. The impression of it moving away came from the drop in brightness, caused by the thickness of atmosphere or a thin veil of cloud. The yellow ball is a common mistaken impression of Venus. The disc-and-dome shape is harder to explain, but atmospheric turbulence or a thin cloud veil could have distorted the image. The testimonies did, however, lack precise measurements. The case is classified A: very probable sightings of Venus.