Sighting in Saint-Pabu, May 26, 2015

A witness saw a point of light in the night sky that they had already noticed a few weeks earlier and found puzzling. It was visible to the naked eye, fainter than Venus, and stayed in place while changing colour (green, red, yellow); it seemed to trace small circles around a fixed point. The observation lasted about a quarter of an hour. The witness gave the time as 21:45 to 22:00, but this is probably wrong, since they described and photographed a night sky although the sun did not set until 22:07. The investigation assumed it took place around 23:00. This was the only account collected. The direction given was vague, but the witness's sketch allowed the height of the point to be put at roughly 20° above the horizon. The Brest weather record confirmed a mostly clear sky and a northerly wind.

According to GEIPAN, an apparently fixed point of light suggests a star, here probably Capella. The changing colours and the impression of rotation, which seemed odd, can be explained by scintillation, a frequent source of misidentification. It is more pronounced when the star is low in the sky and the atmosphere, though clear, is disturbed, as it was that day by heat and wind. The photograph, taken handheld with a powerful zoom, shows a reddish arabesque typical of camera shake blur. GEIPAN classified the case B: probable observation of the star Capella.