Sighting in Sénas, July 28, 2022

At around 10:30 pm, the witness stepped out onto the terrace at home and noticed a luminous phenomenon in the sky. It looked like a satellite, but much bigger and brighter. It moved in a straight line from west to east, though its motion was made up of slowdowns, speed-ups and brief stops. After about thirty seconds, the witness called their spouse, who also saw it. The phenomenon then shrank in place and disappeared, briefly turning red.

Only one of the two witnesses reported the sighting to the GEIPAN, and there is no photo or video, so the case's consistency was rated medium. The investigation concluded that the witness had very probably seen the ISS. Orbital data supplied by the CNES confirmed the station was present at that time, and its start and end positions broadly matched those described, allowing for imprecision in a brief nighttime observation. The round shape, white color and roughly straight path are typical of a very bright satellite. The perceived duration of about one minute may have been underestimated, since the station was visible for just over three minutes. It vanished because of its very low elevation, and the brief red color came from atmospheric dispersion. The jerky movements were most likely an autokinetic effect: in a night sky with few reference points, the eye drifts slightly and creates this illusion. The GEIPAN classified the case as A: observation of the ISS.