ALSACAT:

ALSACAT is my comprehensive catalog of UFO sighting reports in Alsace, the region is the North-East of France, whether they are "explained" or "unexplained".

The ALSACAT catalog is made of case files with a case number, summary, quantitative information (date, location, number of witnesses...), classifications, all sources mentioning the case with their references, a discussion of the case in order to evaluate its causes, and a history of the changes made to the file. A general index and thematic sub-catalogs give access to these Alsatian case files.

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Case in Alsace, on October 10, 1980:

Case number:

ALSACAT-1979-10-10-1

Summary:

With the heading "A UFO in the sky of Strasbourg", an article in the regional newspaper L'Union of Reims for October 12, 1979, reported that "the astronomers" of the observatory of Strasbourg were looking for the witnesses of a celestial phenomenon which took place "Wednesday evening" therefore on October 10, 1979, between 9 p.m. and 10 pm, and "which was noticed by several people."

The newspaper then explains that a "fireball" of exceptional brilliance, "perhaps a meteor", was observed, and that the astronomers wanted to determine thanks to the testimonies the trajectory and the nature of the object "which produced a brilliant trace in the sky."

That meteor still managed to impress ufologist Perry Petrakis, who in the Bulletin de l'Association d'Etude sur les Soucoupes Volantes (Bulletin of the Association for the Study of Flying Saucers) (AESV) #13 of January 1980, assured that on October 10, 1954 a "UFO flew over Alsace in a few seconds between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m."

Data:

Temporal data:

Date:	October 10, 1979
Time:	09:30 p.m.
Duration:	Seconds.
First known report date:	October 12, 1979
Reporting delay:	Minutes, 2 days.

Geographical data:

Department:	67
City:	Strasbourg
Place:	All over Alsace.
Latitude:	48.295
Longitude:	7.445
Uncertainty radius:	100 km.

Witnesses data:

Number of alleged witnesses:	Several.
Number of known witnesses:	0
Number of named witnesses:	0
Witness(es) ages:	Adults.
Witness(es) types:	Atronomers, people.

Ufology data:

Reporting channel:	Astronomers to the Press.
Type of location:	All over the region.
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:	Probable meteor.

Classifications:

Hynek:	NL
ALSACAT:	Meteor.

Sources:

[Ref. unn1:] NEWSPAPER "L'UNION":

A U.F.O
in the sky
of Strasbourg

The astronomers at the Strasbourg observatory are looking for witnesses to a celestial phenomenon that took place Wednesday evening between 9 and 10 p.m., and which was noticed by several people. An exceptionally bright "bolide", possibly a meteor, was observed. The astronomers want to determine thanks to the testimonies the trajectory and the nature of the object which drew a brilliant trace in the sky.

[Ref. aes1:] A.E.S.V. UFOLOGY BULLETIN:

October 10: - A UFO overflies Alsace in a few seconds between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m..

Note: this is one among other cases of 1979 which according to this bulletin would "confirm" an important "UFO activity" at the time of the affair (the hoax) of the Franck Fontain abduction by aliens in Cergy-Pontoise in 1979.

Discussion:

The case does not need much comment; it is essentially "interesting" by the way a meteor is called a "UFO" or even linked to a "close encounter of the 3rd kind" that was only a hoax.

Evaluation:

Meteor.

Sources references:

* = Source is available to me.
? = Source I am told about but could not get so far. Help needed.

[unn1] * "Un O.V.N.I. dans le ciel de Strasbourg", article in the regional newspaper L'Union, Reims, France, October 12, 1979.
[aes1] * Ufologist Perry Petrakis, in the ufology bulletin Bulletin de l'Association d'Etude sur les Soucoupes Volantes (A.E.S.V.), France, #13, page 5, January 1980.

File history:

Authoring:

Main author:	Patrick Gross
Contributors:	None
Reviewers:	None
Editor:	Patrick Gross

Changes history:

Version:	Create/changed by:	Date:	Description:
0.1	Patrick Gross	July 1, 2021	Creation, [unn1], [aes1].
1.0	Patrick Gross	July 1, 2021	First published.

This page was last updated on July 1, 2021.