Sighting in Saint-Hilaire, August 26, 2012
Aude, Occitanie, France
Sighting on August 26, 2012 in Saint-Hilaire (Aude, France). GEIPAN identified the phenomenon with certainty: it was a meteor or fireball (class A).
What happened
At 22:07 on a Sunday evening, a witness was puzzled by a white light moving quickly and silently across the sky. The sighting was very short: the luminous ball crossed part of the sky in about one second. Only one questionnaire reached the GEIPAN for this case, but other witnesses in the South-West sent it emails.
The GEIPAN received three other simultaneous reports, from Agen, Toulouse and Martel. The Futura-Sciences website also listed several sightings of the same event.
The investigation concluded that this was a bolide, meaning the atmospheric entry of a natural meteoroid. Such events occur at very high altitude, between 80 and 30 km, and can be seen from the ground over an area about 500 km across. Witnesses always perceive them as being close. The GEIPAN classified the case as A: identified phenomenon.
Account rewritten by SkyUnknown from the investigation report published by GEIPAN (CNES). The original text and case documents are on the official record.
- Date
- August 26, 2012
- Location
- Saint-Hilaire · town centre
- Type of sighting
- From the ground
- Source classification
- A
- Explanation
- Meteors and fireballs
Sources
- See the original document
GEIPAN (CNES)
n° 2012-08-08295
Summary written by SkyUnknown from the facts published by the source.