Sighting in Sidiailles, March 3, 2013

Around 11:00 p.m., a motorist noticed what looked like a white cross among the stars. A little further along, the witness then saw a luminous phenomenon that changed color and seemed to move. The observation lasted an hour and a half. Gendarmes called to the scene also saw the phenomenon's oscillations and filmed them. Both the testimonies and the video describe a point of light that stayed mostly in place, changed color, and swayed slightly and randomly.

The investigation found that the star Sirius (magnitude -1.44) lay in the direction of the sighting, only about 15° above the theoretical horizon. The witness put it at azimuth 225°, while the gendarmes measured roughly 212°. Weather conditions could favor extreme scintillation: atmospheric pressure was falling and stayed low the next day, which points to strong winds at altitude, a cause of heavy twinkling. The cold could also produce atmospheric optical effects such as halos or crosses if ice crystals were present in the air. An autokinetic illusion may have played a part as well.

GEIPAN classified the case as A: the witness had observed the star Sirius, whose scintillation was greatly amplified by the particular weather conditions.