Sighting in Marseille, September 12, 2014

The witness reported this observation more than a year after it happened, in December 2015. One morning between 6 and 7 a.m., their eye was caught by a point of light moving in circles in the sky, which then vanished in a straight line into a cloud. The object was oval and grey-white. The witness had time to photograph it. No other testimony was collected.

The photos show a bright shape ahead of a faint white trail. GEIPAN favoured the explanation of an aircraft. At sunrise, planes are lit from the side: the wings stay in shadow, darker than the blue sky, and so become invisible. The sun can also reflect strongly off the fuselage or windows and create a very bright spot, so the shape seen, by eye or in a photo, can look like a cigar, an oval or a trapezoid. The white trail is also typical of an aircraft. However, the movements the witness described are surprising for a plane.

The case is classified B: probable observation and photograph of an aircraft at sunrise. The witness placed the photos at around 6 a.m., but the timestamp on them reads 8:16 p.m. They explained that the camera clock was wrong and that it may have been a little later. Judging by the brightness of the sky, it was probably around 6:50 a.m.