Sighting in Saint-Mitre-les-Remparts, January 14, 1982

At around 6:40 a.m., a motorist driving on the Martigues road near Saint-Mitre-les-Remparts noticed a coloured light. It seemed to follow the vehicle along the route and appeared to stay still whenever the witness stopped. No sound was heard. The witness described the light as "very low" on their left. They were the only person to report it: their account was taken down by the gendarmerie as a short free-form statement of about ten lines, with no detailed questionnaire.

The GEIPAN re-examined the case, which had first been classed D. The impression of being followed is typical of sightings of celestial objects: a star keeps a fixed direction, so it drifts past with the landscape while a vehicle holds a steady heading, and it can appear to cross the road when the vehicle changes heading. A bright star low on the horizon, or seen through a windscreen, can also seem to twinkle, flash or change colour. That morning, Capella, Jupiter or Vega could have been involved. However, the witness's exact position, direction of travel, and the height or bearing of the light are unknown, and the "very low on the left" description fits some scenarios poorly. A distant helicopter, neither recognised nor heard, could also have produced the impression of a following ball of light, and the short duration of the sighting makes this possible too.

The account could neither confirm nor rule out either explanation, so the GEIPAN classed the case C, for lack of sufficiently reliable information.