Sighting in Vendin-le-Viel (62) Henin-Beaumont, November 12, 1986

In the night of 12 November 1986, starting at 2:45 a.m., several people travelling by car noticed a luminous disc in the sky that intrigued them and seemed to follow them. One witness first thought of the Moon, remarking to a colleague that it was very low that day, but the colleague replied that it was not the Moon. Later in their account, the witnesses stated that there was no moon. Their drawings show a disc partly hidden by clouds. The phenomenon slowly sank along an oblique path, and one witness gave its disappearance as 3:07 a.m.

The investigation concluded that the Moon had been mistaken for something else. The witnesses described their viewing direction poorly, but they mentioned the axis of the road from Hénin-Beaumont to Sallaumines, which runs due west (azimuth 270°). The sky chart puts the Moon at an azimuth of 261° and an elevation of 3.5° at 2:45 a.m., very close to that direction. The drawings match a gibbous Moon, temporarily and partly hidden by clouds. The slow oblique descent fits a moonset, and a disappearance at 3:07 a.m. is consistent with the Moon setting at 3:11 a.m. over completely open terrain. GEIPAN classified the case as A, fully identified: a typical mistaking of the Moon seen from a car.