Sighting in Le Vigen, December 20, 1979

At around 8:45 a.m., three people watched a motionless, luminous phenomenon in the sky to the south-east for 30 to 40 seconds. The weather was grey and overcast, with a low cloud ceiling. According to the accounts, it was a very bright orange-red mass, described variously as rectangular, oval or circular. It then suddenly turned and took on a cigar shape, before leaving with an orange trail that turned white and vanishing into the clouds. Some witnesses compared it to the sun: it reminded them of a setting sun, looked bigger than the sun, or made them think of an eclipse. One said the object was half hidden, on and off, by a dark cloud.

All three witnesses gave statements to the gendarmerie. When GEIPAN re-examined the case, originally classed D, it found that the rising Sun lay exactly in the direction of the sighting. Its low angle above the horizon explained the vivid red colour. The changing shapes, the short duration and the rapid departure were explained by clouds covering the Sun, which was visible only through a gap in the cloud cover. Nobody saw the Sun separately from the phenomenon. GEIPAN concluded there was no doubt that the witnesses had mistaken the rising Sun for something else, a mistake it says is common and affects all kinds of witnesses, and classed the case A.