Sighting in Saint-Malo, July 25, 2013

Just after midnight, at 12:05 a.m., a witness noticed three white points of light moving silently across the sky. They formed an equilateral triangle. The witness added that the stars at the centre of the triangle were no longer visible. In their questionnaire, they estimated the apparent size of the triangle at 6 cm at arm's length, roughly 5 to 6°. In a later message, they compared the shape to the triangle formed by the middle star of Orion's belt and the two feet, at the same heading and height. That triangle measures about 8° on each side.

GEIPAN simulated satellite passes using the Calsky.com website. At the time of the sighting, the YAOGAN9 satellite triplet was in view of the witness. These satellites appear as three points arranged in an equilateral triangle, about 1° apart, which is twice the apparent diameter of the full Moon. They can reflect sunlight for a few seconds. The disappearance of the stars at the centre of the triangle was probably a common perceptual illusion when looking at grouped points of light.

GEIPAN could not verify that a sun reflection actually occurred at that precise moment. The gap between the size of the triplet (1°) and the size given by the witness (5 to 8°) leaves some doubt. However, the near-perfect match in time and position with the satellites' pass led GEIPAN to classify the case as B: probable observation of sunlight reflecting off the YAOGAN9 satellite triplet.