Sighting in Saint-Jean-de-Maruéjols-et-Avéjan, June 5, 2013

Shortly before 12:35 a.m., a witness noticed a very bright yellow-orange phenomenon in a clear sky and filmed it with their mobile phone. The bright point moved from west to north-east over a few minutes, and the witness described some changes of direction along the way.

GEIPAN's investigation matched the sighting to a pass of the International Space Station (ISS). A Calsky report agrees with the time and direction described: the station appeared in the south-west at 12:32 a.m., peaked at 32° elevation in the north-north-west at 12:37 a.m., and gradually faded from view in the north-north-east at 12:42 a.m. The station's apparent path across the sky is a curve. With no landmarks in the dark sky, the witness perceived it as a series of straight lines, which accounts for the changes of direction. The drop in brightness after the peak corresponds to the station moving away, as most observers perceive it.

The video was shot without any stabilisation and cannot be used. The witness was looking in the right direction, and the ISS was bright enough to be noticed by any observer. Had another phenomenon appeared, the witness would have described both, since they would have been clearly visible in the clear sky. The case is classified A: observation of the International Space Station.