Sighting in Reims, January 23, 1981

Around 9 p.m., a witness was riding home from work on a moped when a large round shape in the eastern sky caught their attention. It gave off an intense orange light. According to the witness, it moved to a different position and then vanished abruptly. The investigation turned up no other testimony.

The case rested on little evidence: a single witness and a short observation, although the description of the phenomenon was fairly precise. The witness's sincerity and credibility were never questioned. GEIPAN found that the phenomenon described, in its shape, size and color, closely matched the Moon at moonrise, and the Moon was indeed present in that part of the sky. The witness's eyesight was not the issue; rather, it was the way they interpreted what they saw, shaped by how they felt: tiredness, night riding on frozen ground, and fog. The case had originally been classified "C" by GEPAN and was reviewed. Under GEIPAN's current classification it is rated "A," a case of low strangeness explained as a mistaken sighting of the Moon.