Sighting in Toulouse, December 14, 2015
Haute-Garonne, Occitanie, France
Sighting on December 14, 2015 in Toulouse (Haute-Garonne, France). According to GEIPAN, it was most probably the planet Venus (class B).
What happened
At around 7:15 one morning, a witness and their spouse looked through fog at a point of light in the sky. The light seemed to pitch or sway and appeared to grow slightly larger. Only one of the two gave a statement to GEIPAN.
The direction the witness described was plotted on a map and corresponds to an azimuth of about 135°, to the south-east. The sky chart shows the planet Venus in that direction, very bright (magnitude -3.6) and 22° above the horizon, whereas the witness had put the height at 60°. The star Arcturus, much fainter (magnitude 0.15), was at azimuth 117° and 51° elevation.
According to the investigation, the witness's description fits a very bright celestial body seen through light fog: the other stars are hidden and the light looks slightly distorted. The impression of swaying is typical of the autokinetic illusion. GEIPAN classified the case as B: the witness most probably saw the planet Venus or the star Arcturus.
Account rewritten by SkyUnknown from the investigation report published by GEIPAN (CNES). The original text and case documents are on the official record.
- Date
- December 14, 2015
- Location
- Toulouse · town centre
- Type of sighting
- From the ground
- Source classification
- B
- Explanation
- Planets
Sources
- See the original document
GEIPAN (CNES)
n° 2015-12-09375
Summary written by SkyUnknown from the facts published by the source.