Sighting in San-Gavino-di-Tenda, December 10, 2025

From the terrace of their home, the main witness noticed a very bright point of light in the south-east, much brighter than the surrounding stars. Its colour kept changing, from white to blue, green and red. The phenomenon was silent and, in the witness's estimate, stood between 20 and 25 degrees above the horizon. The night was very clear. The witness filmed it with a smartphone held perfectly still, using a strong zoom. The video showed a slight sideways drift to the right, a few millimetres on screen. The observation lasted about thirty minutes: the point moved towards the north, then returned to its starting position. The witness eventually stopped watching of their own accord. A second witness living in the same village confirmed the phenomenon was there, but only the first filled in a GEIPAN questionnaire. The case was rated as consistent thanks to the usable video. The witness did not find the sighting very strange.

GEIPAN concluded that the witness had seen the star Sirius. The spherical look on the video comes from applying a strong zoom to a point-like object. The rapid changes in brightness and colour, which give an impression of blinking, are typical of the scintillation of a star low on the horizon, caused by atmospheric turbulence. Readings from the Bastia weather station confirm exceptional visibility at 22:00, still high at 23:00. A Stellarium simulation shows Sirius rising in the south-east and then moving towards the south, that is to the right, as the witness described. Its elevation, from about 14° to 19° between 22:22 and 23:02, is close to the witness's estimate. Processing of the video confirms this movement. With little residual strangeness, the case is classified A: observation of Sirius.