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.

Case of Strasbourg, on January 1, 1990:

Case number:

ALSACAT-1990-01-01-STRASBOURG-1

Summary:

The official French study group of unidentified aerial phenomena, GEIPAN, published in the 2000s information about a sighting in Strasbourg that was reported to them in April 2008.

The witness was a boy of 12 years at most at the time of the observation.

He reported that in 1990 or 1991, while walking in the street, he was blinded by an object passing in front of the sun.

This object was formed by three bright lights which delimited an equilateral triangle. The object moved slowly and did not emit any noise. It was metallic-looking, gray and had geometric figures on it.

It suddenly "disappeared" at an "amazing" speed.

GEIPAN indicates that the testimony being late and poorly documented, they cannot investigate and cannot exclude that the boy had seen an airplane.

Data:

Temporal data:

Date:	January 1, 1990
Time:	~12:00 / 14:00 p.m.
Duration:	?
First known report date:	April 2008
Reporting delay:	2 decades.

Geographical data:

Department:	Bas-Rhin
City:	Strasbourg
Place:	?
Latitude:	48.573
Longitude:	7.739
Uncertainty radius:	10 km

Witnesses data:

Number of alleged witnesses:	?
Number of known witnesses:	?
Number of named witnesses:	?
Witness(es) ages:	?
Witness(es) types:	?

Ufology data:

Reporting channel:	?
Type of location:	?
Visibility conditions:	Night
UFO observed:	Yes
UFO arrival observed:	Yes
UFO departure observed:	Yes
Entities:	No
Photographs:	No.
Sketch(s) by witness(es):	No.
Sketch(es) approved by witness(es):	No.
Witness(es) feelings:	Puzzled.
Witnesses interpretation:	?

Classifications:

Hynek:	DD
ALSACAT:	Unidentified, not enough information, possible airplane.

Sources:

[Ref. gei1:] GROUPE D'ETUDES ET D'INFORMATIONS SUR LES PHENOMENES AEROSPATIAUX NON IDENTIFIES (G.E.I.P.A.N.):

STRASBOURG (67) 01.01.1990
Observed on:	01-01-1990
Region:	Alsace
Department:	Rhin (Bas)
Class:	C
Summary:	Observation of three intense light in a triangle.
Description:	A witness reported that in 1990 or 1991 while walking in the street, he was dazzled by an object passing in front of the sun. This object was formed by three bright lights which delimited an equilateral triangle. The object moved slowly and did not emit any noise. It was metallic-looking, gray in color and had geometric figures. It suddenly disappeared at an "amazing" speed. This late (April 2008) and little documented testimony does not allow us to do a serious investigation that could validate or invalidate certain assumptions including that of the passage of a plane.
Report:	None.

Details of the testimony
Witness
Date of the observation	01-01-1990
Document number
Age	Child (no more than 12)
Job	Students
Sex	Male
Reaction
Credibility
Conditions
Environment	Urban landscape
Weather conditions	Clear Sky
Hour of the observation	Numbered: 12 o'clock - 14 o'clock
Reference landmarks	Urban landscape (houses, trees, streetlamps
Distance between phenomenon and witness	Not-specified
Start of the observation	Start of the observation by witness
End of the observation	End of the observation by phenomenon
Localization
Angle of the site	At the zenith
Direction of observation	Not-specified
Heading	Geographic landmarks (Name of city, village, numbered, etc.)
Trajectory	Not-specified
Nature of the observation	Object
Characteristic of the observation	Unique
Global shape	Conical, triangle
Color	Other (other colors)
Apparent size	Not-specified
Apparent speed	Fast, great, fast
Noise	No noise
Effect on the environment	Not-specified
Number	1

Note: on the GEIPAN web page, there is a link to a "Direct testimony" but it is broken.

Discussion:

There is not much to add to the GEIPAN comment.

The dazzling may seem to be a strangeness excluding an airplane, but this strangeness is eliminated that the craft was said to be in front of the sun, a natural cause of dazzling.

The speed is not quantified; there is no duration, no angular size. It seems impossible to me to decide it was this or that.

The date of January 1st, given by GEIPAN, is likely arbitrary.

Evaluation:

Unidentified, not enough information, possible airplane.

Sources references:

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

[gei1] * "STRASBOURG (67) 01.01.1990", case record from the ufology database of the "Groupe d'Etude et d'Informations sur les Phénomènes Aérospatiaux Non Identifiés" (GEIPAN), public service, branch of the "Centre National des Etudes Spatiales" (CNES), France, as of January 30, 2014, at http://www.geipan.fr/index.php?id=202&cas=1990-06-01825

File history:

Authoring:

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

Changes history:

Version:	Create/changed by:	Date:	Description:
0.1	Patrick Gross	March 18, 2016	Creation, [gei1].
1.0	Patrick Gross	March 18, 2016	First published.

This page was last updated on March 18, 2016.