Sighting in Lavelanet, March 11, 2011

A witness repeatedly noticed a white light in the sky on 9 February, 6 March and 11 March 2011, and filmed it. They saw it in the morning when getting up. The light stayed motionless for a very long time, about 45 minutes, and faded once daylight arrived. The witness described it as twinkling.

The investigation checked the direction of observation, south-southeast, toward the Lavelanet-Belesta line, as well as the layout of the sky on those days, in particular on 11 March around 7:00 local time. The planet Venus was in that part of the sky and was clearly visible to the naked eye. The twinkling came from atmospheric disturbances: the layers of air the light passed through differ in temperature and refractive index. GEIPAN had no remaining doubt and classified the case A: the witness had seen Venus on successive occasions.