Sighting in Le Pouliguen, July 16, 1979

Two people, each at home, saw a very large luminous phenomenon in the night sky, surrounded by a red-orange and yellow halo. It appeared to be above Pornichet. At first it stayed still, then seemed to move toward Saint-Nazaire while the halo gradually faded. One of the witnesses described a dome shape standing out clearly from a red halo, seen for about a minute, and was struck that the halo was reflected neither on the water nor in the sky. Despite notices put out by the gendarmerie in the press and on the radio, no other witness came forward.

The case was first classified D, under the name La Baule. GEIPAN re-examined it using new software tools and the investigative experience gained since. The witnesses most likely saw the Moon, which was rising very low on the horizon, at an elevation of about 4.6° and azimuth 90.5°, as seen from the Pointe de Penchateau. Clouds were present that night. A shifting gap in the cloud in front of the Moon can give it all sorts of shapes, and haze or cloud scatters its light into a halo. Depending on its thickness, the colour shifts from red to bright yellow. The apparent size of the Moon and its halo matches the width of Pornichet as seen from that spot, 3 to 5 degrees. The movement perceived at the end of the sighting is explained by the gap in the clouds gradually closing, which reduced the apparent size and brightness. The witnesses took this as the object moving away, and the geography allows that to be described as a movement toward Saint-Nazaire. Finally, since the Moon and the clouds were far beyond Pornichet, a mirror-like reflection on the water was not possible. Only weak scattering could occur, probably too faint that evening. GEIPAN therefore reclassified the case as A: observation of a red Moon.