Sighting in Hyères, February 2, 2011
Var, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France
Sighting on February 2, 2011 in Hyères (Var, France). GEIPAN could not reach a conclusion for lack of sufficient information (class C).
What happened
Two witnesses were in the living room of their apartment when, shortly after 6:15 a.m., they noticed a dark circle with bright lights twinkling inside it. It appeared about as large as a full moon. The phenomenon stayed in place for roughly fifteen minutes, then shrank and moved away, turning within a few seconds into a very bright point. The observation ended at 6:45 a.m.
Investigators first considered the planet Venus, which was especially bright at that time of year (magnitude -3.9) and located to the south-east (135°), 10° above the horizon. However, this explanation accounts neither for a dark circle with bright lights nor for how quickly the object vanished. No other witness reports were gathered. Given the nature of the phenomenon, a thorough investigation was hard to carry out, and GEIPAN classified the case as C because of insufficient information.
Account rewritten by SkyUnknown from the investigation report published by GEIPAN (CNES). The original text and case documents are on the official record.
- Date
- February 2, 2011
- Location
- Hyères · town centre
- Type of sighting
- From the ground
- Source classification
- C
Sources
- See the original document
GEIPAN (CNES)
n° 2011-02-02712
Summary written by SkyUnknown from the facts published by the source.