Sighting in Le Thieulin, March 21, 2022

The witness went to the gendarmerie to report two sightings made from their home. The first took place on 21 March at about 11:15 p.m.: they noticed a star that was much brighter than the others and moved erratically, in small jumps, "a bit in all directions". They watched it with the naked eye and then through binoculars. On 23 March 2022, at about 6:02 a.m., they saw a similar phenomenon in the same direction, but higher above the horizon. A sketch attached to the report places both sightings toward the southwest.

The GEIPAN investigation concluded that the witness had seen the star Sirius the first time and the star Arcturus the second. Both stars were indeed in the sky at the times concerned. Their appearance matched that of a star, as the witness had noted, and their positions agreed with the witness's account: elevations, compared with Stellarium data, differed by only a few degrees for Sirius and by 14° for Arcturus, and the azimuths in the sketch were consistent.

The strange aspects are explained by scintillation of a star low on the horizon, affected by atmospheric turbulence, which produces changing shapes, bright points and various colors, especially through binoculars. The erratic movement is attributed to the autokinetic effect. The witness, with little knowledge of astronomy, most likely did not recognize the stars, and their very similar azimuths probably led the witness to believe it was the same phenomenon both times. The case was classified A.