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 of Niederbronn-les-Bains, on March 18, 2009:

Case number:

ALSACAT-2009-03-18-NIEDERBRONN-1

Summary:

Someone reported by email to the Swiss ufology group GREPI having seen the day before, March 18, 2009, at 08:40 p.m. a very large shooting star, "larger than a tennis ball," go over the church, coming from the north, from Niederbronn, going to Haguenau.

The person checked a newspaper, but found nothing about it, although the weather was very clear was that other people had to have seen it.

Data:

Temporal data:

Date:	March 18, 2009
Time:	08:40 p.m.
Duration:	?
First known report date:	March 19, 2009
Reporting delay:	1 day.

Geographical data:

Department:	Haut-Rhin
City:	Niederbronn-les-Bains, Haguenau
Place:	?
Latitude:	48.883
Longitude:	7.705
Uncertainty radius:	20 km

Witnesses data:

Number of alleged witnesses:	1
Number of known witnesses:	1
Number of named witnesses:	0
Witness(es) ages:	?
Witness(es) types:	?

Ufology data:

Reporting channel:	On the web to the GREPI website.
Type of location:	?
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:	?

Classifications:

Hynek:	NL
ALSACAT:	Probable shooting star.

Sources:

[Ref. gri1:] WITNESS REPORT ON THE "GREPI" WEBSITE:

Yesterday evening, March 18, 2009, at 08:40 p.m., a very big shooting star (larger than a tennis ball) passed above the church, coming from the north (Niederronn) [sic] to Haguenau.

I looked if something was printed in the newspaper, but alas nthing. Yet the weather was very clear and there surely are persons who must have seen it...

Thanks for giving me information if this is in your possibilities.

In answer to your email, I can specify to you that there is an aerial radar 901 Drachenbronn not far from you, maybe they have a trace of this phenomenon on the radar of 03/18/2009 at 08:40 p.m..

Willy (Bas-Rhin - France)

Discussion:

It is not known where the witness was. In principle in the region where Niederbronn and Haguenau are located. Niederbronn is about 20 kilometers northeast of Haguenau. In-between is Gundershoffen.

The size given as that of a tennis ball unfortunately does not mean much: a tennis ball at one meter and the same tennis ball 10 meters away have very different apparent sizes... One must give an angular size such as: "the size of a tennis ball held at arm's length" or "on a ruler helf at arm's length it would have been 5 millimeters wide."

Evaluation:

Probable shooting star.

Sources references:

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

[gri1] * Anonymous witness web report to the ufology group GREPI website, Switzerland, not dated, at http://www.ovni.ch/temoign/temoig75.htm

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	July 8, 2015	Creation, [gri1].
1.0	Patrick Gross	July 8, 2015	First published.

This page was last updated on July 8, 2015.