ALSACAT-2010-07-29-FERRETTE-1
"Dédé", from the Haut-Rhin, reported to Swiss ufology group GREPI that on Thursday, July 29, 2010, there was a moderate storm with only three lightning.
Then at 01:15 a.m., he saw from his sofa a light like that of a plane, a flashing red light.
At 01:15 a.m., he wonders about it, because the light did not move after a brief observation. It was very high in the sky.
At 01:30 a.m., he decided to watch this light with binoculars. In the lenses, it appears round, a sort of ball or luminous circle, green and red in the center.
Around 1:30 a.m. to 2:00 a.m., he tried in vain to photograph it. The night, the distance, and his cell phone camera dis not allow success. The glowing still appeared to be motionless.
At 02:10 a.m., the object disappeared, but he had not seen or witnessed a starting movement.
"Dédé" would not like to draw hasty conclusion, but finds a helicopter or plane making an hour of hovering in the middle of the night improbable, a balloon at 01:15 a.m. is also unlikely to him.
He does not think that satellites can be seen with the naked eye if they are not currently burning on reentry in the atmosphere.
He wants to know what he saw; which remained a UFO to him, not necessarily alien, although he does not exclude that possibility.
In a listing by the ufology Association SPICA published around 2014, we discover a better location: it was in Ferrette.
| Date: | July 29, 2010 |
|---|---|
| Time: | 01:15 a.m. |
| Duration: | 55 minutes. |
| First known report date: | 2014 |
| Reporting delay: | Days, 4 years. |
| Department: | Haut-Rhin |
|---|---|
| City: | Ferrette |
| Place: | From the sofa, UFO in the sky. |
| Latitude: | 47.494 |
| Longitude: | 7.315 |
| Uncertainty radius: | 2 km |
| Number of alleged witnesses: | 1 |
|---|---|
| Number of known witnesses: | 1 |
| Number of named witnesses: | 0 |
| Witness(es) ages: | ? |
| Witness(es) types: | Male. |
| Reporting channel: | By the web to the Swiss ufology group GREPI. |
|---|---|
| Type of location: | ? |
| Visibility conditions: | Night. |
| UFO observed: | Yes |
| UFO arrival observed: | ? |
| UFO departure observed: | Yes |
| Entities: | No |
| Photographs: | Attempted in vain. |
| Sketch(s) by witness(es): | No. |
| Sketch(es) approved by witness(es): | No. |
| Witness(es) feelings: | Puzzled. |
| Witnesses interpretation: | Helicopter, plane, balloon, satellite unlikely. |
| Hynek: | NL |
|---|---|
| ALSACAT: | Insufficient information. |
[Ref. gri1:] WITNESS REPORT TO THE G.R.E.P.I. WEBSITE:
Thursday, July 29, 2010.
A storm, only three flashes, the weather is not really stormy.
01:15: I see from my couch a light such as that of an airplane (red flashing).
01:30: Thinking. The light does not move after a brief observation. It is very high in the sky.
01:30: I decided to watch this light with binoculars: appearance in the lens of a round (kind of ball or circle of light) green and red in the center.
01h30-02h00: vain attempt to take a picture of the object, because of the night and the lack of resources (mobile phone camera) and by its distance. The luminescent object still does not seem to move.
02:10: Disappearance of the object in question (I did not observe a starting motion).
Without drawing any conclusions in haste:
-helicopter: one hour from a standstill in the night
-balloon: scarcity in the region, and 1:15 am
-airplane: the standstill is usually reserved for a few military vehicles that leave a large trail in the sky.
-satellite: despite the height, I do not think these can be seen with the naked eye without flaming entry into Earth's atmosphere.
I'd like to know what it can be. To me it is a UFO (not necessarily alien, although I do not exclude that theory. Please stay down to earth).
Dédé (Haut-Rhin - France)
[Ref. spa1:] "SPICA" UFOLOGY ASSOCIATION:
| City | Date and hour of observation | General shape Identification |
General color Hypothesis |
Conclusion |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FERRETTE | Thursday 29 July 2010 at 01:15 | Circular, round or disc (2D) Unidentified |
green None |
Unsolved -lack of info |
|
Geostationary satellites are faintly visible at the beginning and end of the night, but are invisible at the hours reported here. And they are neither red nor flashing.
A non-geostationary satellite is obviously excluded because of the observation duration.
(I add, because I already read such proposals by amateurs on forums: it was not a pulsar, because no pulsar is visible to the naked eye or even binoculars, and variable star can not be the reason of the flashing because their variability is measured in years.)
Helicopters, balloons, airplanes seem equally improbable; I do share the arguments of the witness. Small toy balloons, weather balloons and party balloons might appear flashing red, but only if the sun stills lights them, at these hours it does not seem to me. The duration enough is against such explanations, it would require a totally windless sky for nearly an hour; which seems unlikely to me.
Mars, often called "red", was not visible from there at that time. And it never flashes.
However, there are gaps and uncertainties in the report.
Firstly, there is no elevation angle. "Dede says "Very high in the sky". But can I deduce a high angle, or was it actually close to the horizon, the "height" being a very subjective impression? If it was low enough, it could have been a star. Some stars like Sirius, Betelgeuse and Antares not only look reddish, but seem to flash when close to the horizon or when the air trembles (although Sirius is not really red anymore since centuries).
I would have had a weakness for Sirius. Its high brightness is due to its proximity, only 8.6 light years away, it is the brightest star in the night sky. Its flashing had already ben called impressive by witnesses, it occurs because Sirius never rises very high on the southern horizon as seen from Alsace. The light passes through a greater thickness of atmosphere than if it were at a high elevation. The refraction of the atmosphere can make it appear to flash, and make its color fluctuate.
But Sirius was not visible at that time in that place. Betelgeuse neither. Another star perhaps? How could I say, since the viewing direction is not given?
Insufficient 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 | July 24, 2015 | Creation, [gri1], [spa1]. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | July 24, 2015 | First published. |
