ALSACAT-1970-07-06-STRASBOURG-1
In the UFO sightings section of the "Contact Lecteurs" supplement to the ufology magazine Lumières Dans La Nuit #5 of January 1971, one finds the report of a Mr. Scharinger, from Strasbourg, about his observation of July 6, 1970 at 11:17 p.m.:
"Often in the evening I walk, as today, in the alley which borders my garden when I saw an object coming from the east which, on a regular trajectory, seemed to move towards the west. Its round shape was sparkling orange in color. Its apparent dimension was that of a 5-cent coin held at arm's length. The observation time was approximately 30"."
| Date: | July 6, 1970 |
|---|---|
| Time: | 11:17 p.m. |
| Duration: | 30 seconds. |
| First known report date: | January 1971 |
| Reporting delay: | Days, months. |
| Department: | Bas-Rhin |
|---|---|
| City: | Strasbourg |
| Place: | Alley near home garden. |
| Latitude: | 48.576 |
| Longitude: | 7.744 |
| Uncertainty radius: | 10 kms |
| Number of alleged witnesses: | 1 |
|---|---|
| Number of known witnesses: | 1 |
| Number of named witnesses: | 1 |
| Witness(es) ages: | Adult or aged. |
| Witness(es) types: | Man, resident. |
| Reporting channel: | Ufology magazine LDLN. |
|---|---|
| Type of location: | Outside near home. |
| Visibility conditions: | Night. |
| UFO observed: | Yes |
| UFO arrival observed: | ? |
| UFO departure observed: | ? |
| Entities: | No |
| Photographs: | No. |
| Sketch(s) by witness(es): | No. |
| Sketch(es) approved by witness(es): | No. |
| Witness(es) feelings: | ? |
| Witnesses interpretation: | ? |
| Hynek: | NL |
|---|---|
| ALSACAT: | ? |
[Ref. ldl1:] UFOLOGY MAGAZINE "LUMIERES DANS LA NUIT":
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67 - BAS-RHIN STRASBOURG
July 6, 1970 at 11:17 p.m..
Often in the evening I walk, as today, in the alley which borders my garden when I saw an object coming from the east which, on a regular trajectory, seemed to move towards the west. Its round shape was sparkling orange in color. Its apparent dimension was that of a 5-cent coin held at arm's length. The observation time was approximately 30". Observation by M. Scharinger.
[Ref. cnu1:] UFOLOGY GROUP "CNEGU":
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F/00/67/70 07 06 (01)
On Monday July 6, 1970, 11:17 p.m., a resident of Strasbourg (67) walking in his garden saw a sparkling orange object regularly crossing the sky from east to west.
Source: testimony by M. Scheringer in LDLN n° 5 Jan. 71 "Contact Lecteur" p. 9
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The given angular size, if it were quite accurate, would be the apparent size of somehting like the Moon; maybe bigger, maybe smaller, but certainly much larger than a star or planet.
The angular height is not given. The direction is that it seem to come from the East and moved to the West.
On the skymap for that date and hour and from Strasbourg, there appears to be no Moon, no planet Mars or any other remarkable astronomical object in the East. Nothing of the sort in the south.
In the West, Venus was set for long - and it is never orange. Jupiter was in the sky at 242°, height 11°, and set at 00:30 a.m.
99.15% of its surface is illuminated, it is then at 767 million km from Earth (Minimum 591 million kilometers, maximum 750 million km, so that its brightness hardly varies except by its illumination by the sun.)
One could hardly say it was going from East to West, it was already in the West, low, descending very slowly.
So I don't see a convincing astronomical explanation.
One may think of a plane, but the half-hour of observation seems rather long. A helicopter is possible, but the orange color of its light would be a bit surprising and we are not told about sound or silence.
This case therefore remains for me an "unidentified", but of low strangeness, without investigation and with very little data.
A savvy reader found an issue and emailed me about it on January 17, 2023:
Hello,
I read your page on case ALSACAT-1970-07-06-STRASBOURG-1 and I immediately thought of an airplane. But, in the discussion part of the page, you rule out the hypothesis of an airplane because "the half-hour of observation seems very long" whereas it seems to me that the observation lasted 30 seconds and not 30 minutes.
Congratulations for your website.
Regards.
Indeed! I mistakenly interpreted the duration 30 " as 30 minutes when it is actually 30 seconds.
And in this case, my assessment which was "Unidentified, low strangeness, poor information" becomes "Possible aircraft, low strangeness, poor information".
Possible plane, low strangeness, poor information.
* = Source is available to me.
? = Source I am told about but could not get so far. Help needed.
| Main author: | Patrick Gross |
|---|---|
| Contributors: | None |
| Reviewers: | None |
| Editor: | Patrick Gross |
| Version: | Create/changed by: | Date: | Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | May 19, 2021 | Creation, [ldl1]. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | May 19, 2021 | First published. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | January 16, 2023 | Addition [cnu1]. |
| 1.2 | Patrick Gross | January 18, 2023 | In the Explanations, addition of the part "Update on January 18, 2023". |
