Sighting in Minorque, March 2, 2018

At 2:32 a.m. on a Friday, the witness was on the balcony of a cruise ship cabin in the Mediterranean. The sky was lit by a full Moon and scattered with clouds. While trying to take souvenir photos of the moonlight, the witness noticed an extremely bright white phenomenon, which surprised and intrigued them. They took two photographs, about four seconds apart, just before the phenomenon suddenly vanished. Back in the cabin, they were surprised to have stayed outside in the cold much longer than they had thought: they estimated about fifteen minutes, whereas the phenomenon had actually been present for around 1h40. They described a huge, very bright object of surprising shape, seeming larger than a big airplane. Only one account was collected.

The investigation showed that the witness had observed and photographed Jupiter. In the photo, the phenomenon lay a little under 90° to the left of the Moon, which the witness's drawing also showed. The IPACO software was used to measure the height of the phenomenon and of the Moon, which made it possible to recover the exact time of the picture. At that time and place, Jupiter stood 19° above the horizon and 85° to the left of the Moon, just like the phenomenon. The one-second exposure made Jupiter appear as swirling trails that differed from one shot to the next, which the witness read as different faces of an evolving object. The sudden disappearance is explained by a cloud passing in front of Jupiter. The witness also believed the crew had chosen not to publicize the event so as not to unsettle passengers. GEIPAN classified the case as A: an observation of Jupiter.