Sighting in Sainte-Sigolène, March 1, 2012
Haute-Loire, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France
Sighting on March 1, 2012 in Sainte-Sigolène (Haute-Loire, France). GEIPAN identified the phenomenon with certainty: it was the International Space Station (ISS) (class A).
What happened
At around 7:05 pm, a witness saw a bright, spherical object moving silently across the sky. It followed a straight path at a steady speed, with no change of direction.
The investigation found that this description matches the pass of a large satellite exactly. The International Space Station (ISS) flew over France that evening, from northwest to southeast, between 7:00 and 7:03 pm. The gap of about two minutes with the time the witness gave was probably due to an inaccurate watch, or to inaccuracy in the orbital model used to reconstruct the pass. GEIPAN therefore classified the case as A: the object was the ISS.
Account rewritten by SkyUnknown from the investigation report published by GEIPAN (CNES). The original text and case documents are on the official record.
- Date
- March 1, 2012
- Location
- Sainte-Sigolène · town centre
- Type of sighting
- From the ground
- Source classification
- A
- Explanation
- Space station (ISS)
Sources
- See the original document
GEIPAN (CNES)
n° 2012-03-08213
Summary written by SkyUnknown from the facts published by the source.