Sighting in Perles-et-Castelet, July 19, 2014

At around 11 p.m., a group of people were stargazing in the mountains. Only one of them gave a account of what they saw. The witness first noticed a point of light following a hesitant path, then other points moving in odd ways. Some of them met and merged.

The witness described point-like lights, mostly white, travelling along a straight path. They vanished and reappeared a little further on. Their movements were erratic, following tight curves, with bursts of acceleration over short distances and abrupt stops.

According to GEIPAN, the point-like appearance, white color, linear path, and disappearance followed by reappearance are typical of satellites seen at night. Conditions were ideal for spotting them: no Moon, high altitude, little or no light pollution, and a summer sky. The time mattered too, since most satellites are visible early in the night or just before dawn, when they are still lit by the Sun and outside the cone of Earth's shadow. The erratic motion, accelerations, and sudden stops are explained by micro-nystagmus, a physiological effect of tiny eye movements that occurs when fixating on objects, especially at night. It creates the false impression that moving points of light zigzag or briefly stop, particularly when they pass other point-like light sources.

The other observers' accounts could not be obtained. GEIPAN classified the case as B: probable observation of satellites.