Sighting in Sourcieux-les-Mines, November 11, 2020

On the night of 11 to 12 November 2020, between about 10:30 pm and 11:30 pm, the witness noticed a fairly bright orange point in the sky, "like Venus, or even a little brighter". It was due south, within a few degrees of south, at a height of about 60°. The witness noted no change in brightness, but had the impression that the point moved slightly, left to right and back and forth, with no overall direction, so that it stayed more or less in the same place. After about fifteen minutes, thin high clouds hid the stars, except for this point. The witness went indoors, came back out about thirty minutes later and found the point still there, but clearly more stationary. They went in again and came out about an hour later: the point had gone and could not be found elsewhere in the sky, which was starry and cloud-free again. Only one account was collected, and it gave no precise start or end times for each of the two observations.

GEIPAN checked the position of Mars with Stellarium: at 10:30 pm the planet was at azimuth 187°, consistent with the direction given, and at an elevation of 49°, against the 60° estimated by the witness, a height that is often misjudged. Weather data showed a very cloudy sky between 10 pm and 11 pm (6/8) and a fully overcast sky between midnight and 1 am (8/8). The passing clouds, the impossibility of judging distance at night and the fact that Mars was the only notable orange point in that direction make a misidentification entirely plausible. The slight movement perceived is explained by the autokinetic effect and by atmospheric fluctuations in brightness, interpreted as the point approaching or receding. The case's consistency was rated medium, because of the imprecise timings and the mention of a cloudless sky when cloud cover was in fact significant. GEIPAN classified the observation as A: a very probable misidentification of the planet Mars.