Sighting in Lhuis, November 22, 1981
Ain, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France
Sighting on November 22, 1981 in Lhuis (Ain, France). GEIPAN identified the phenomenon with certainty: it was the star Sirius (class A).
What happened
Two gendarmes on duty noticed an extremely bright light in the sky at around 12:45 a.m. It stayed motionless and seemed to twinkle. Through binoculars, they could make out flashes of several colours around its edge, which switched on and off in a disorderly way.
They had a star chart with them and placed the bright point to the left of the constellation Orion. The observation went on for several hours.
The GEIPAN classified the case as A. A check with astronomy software showed that the witnesses had almost certainly seen Sirius, which is particularly visible in the sky at that time of year.
Account rewritten by SkyUnknown from the investigation report published by GEIPAN (CNES). The original text and case documents are on the official record.
- Date
- November 22, 1981
- Location
- Lhuis · town centre
- Type of sighting
- From the ground
- Source classification
- A
- Explanation
- Stars
Sources
- See the original document
GEIPAN (CNES)
n° 1981-11-00901
Summary written by SkyUnknown from the facts published by the source.