Sighting in Le Croisic, January 12, 1980
Loire-Atlantique, Pays de la Loire, France
Sighting on January 12, 1980 in Le Croisic (Loire-Atlantique, France). GEIPAN identified the phenomenon with certainty (class A).
What happened
Over several evenings between 10 and 16 January 1980, many people, gendarmes among them, noticed a luminous object in the sky. It was round, bright and twinkling, and it moved slowly from east to west. Photographs of it were taken.
Gradually the object lost its brightness, turned orange, and then disappeared.
GEIPAN concluded that all of these people had been looking at the planet Venus, which was especially visible at that time of year. Its magnitude was -3.83 on 12 January 1980 at 19:04, and it set into the ocean at 20:30. The case is classified A: identified.
Account rewritten by SkyUnknown from the investigation report published by GEIPAN (CNES). The original text and case documents are on the official record.
- Date
- January 12, 1980
- Location
- Le Croisic · town centre
- Type of sighting
- From the ground
- Source classification
- A
Sources
- See the original document
GEIPAN (CNES)
n° 1980-01-00715
Summary written by SkyUnknown from the facts published by the source.