Sighting in Satillieu, February 3, 2010

A witness reported to the gendarmerie and to GEIPAN a luminous phenomenon seen from their home on a Wednesday at around 4 p.m. The object was dazzling even through sunglasses, kept changing shape and colour, and the lights inside the house looked dim and pinkish or orange. The witness also described a second object. During the observation they phoned a neighbour, whose remarks, as relayed by the witness, are ambiguous: the statement taken by the gendarmes mentions a "sputnik", while the questionnaire mentions a fireball. The phenomenon ended when the Sun set behind the mountains.

The investigation found that the direction and elevation shown in the first reconstruction photograph matched the Sun's position exactly. The glare, the changes in appearance and the dull indoor lighting are therefore what one would expect. The second object, located using the second photograph, may simply be an afterimage caused by staring at the Sun for a long time. Witnesses also sometimes take a celestial body very low on the horizon for something much closer and at low altitude. The case was classified B: probable confusion with the Sun, followed by an afterimage effect from watching it.