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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 the Bas-Rhin, on October 13, 2013:

Case number:

ALSACAT-2013-10-13-BASRHIN-1

Summary:

In a listing of UFO sighting reports in the Bas-Rhin published in 2015 on their website, the Alsatian ufology association SPICA noted that on Sunday, October 13, 2013, at 09:36 p.m. from an unknown place in the department, there was a sighting of a "ball, balloon or melon (3D)" of blue color.

The SPICA announced that the case was solved: it was a meteor.

Data:

Temporal data:

Date: October 13, 2013
Time: 09:36 p.m.
Duration: ?
First known report date: 2015
Reporting delay: Hour, 2 years.

Geographical data:

Department: Bas-Rhin
City: ?
Place: From the Bas-Rhin, UFO in the sky.
Latitude: 48.606
Longitude: 7.523
Uncertainty radius: 50 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: Listing of sightings by the regional ufology group SPICA.
Type of location: From the ground, UFO in the sky.
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: The 9:36 p.m. meteor on the Vosges.

Sources:

[Ref. spa1:] UFOLOGY GROUP "SPICA":

City Date and hour of observation General shape
Identification
General color
Hypothesis
Conclusion
UNKNOWN-LOCATION Sunday 13 October 2013 at 21h36 ball, balloon or melon (3D)
Natural reentry
blue
Natural reentry
Solved

Discussion:

I searched other witnesses reports of a meteor at that date and time and in a consistent place.

I found a meteor that day seen from Rosheim at 09:36 p.m.:

Scan.

div class="doc">

The meteorite-fireball of October 13, 2013

October 15, 2013 10:51 PM

Sunday evening October 13, 2013, at 09:36 p.m. Local Time 07:36 p.m. UTC, observed from Rosheim near Obernai in Alsace, a very large meteorite was seen entering the atmosphere between the stars Alpha and Gamma Cygni south of Zenith. It went across the entire south-eastern part of the sky to disappear between Delta and Eta Aquarius. Its trajectory stretched over more than 50 degrees across the sky. The track began with a beautiful golden yellow color to green at Epsilon Pegasus. Then it expanded by taking a fluorescent green color. Its speed slowed down to a fifth during the travel. At Lamda Aquarius the meteorite exploded in a violent green ball surrounded by a yellow halo. The size of the ball had reached the diameter of the Moon (~ 0.5°). The light was so violent that it lit the place of observation more than the Moon in Aquarius with its 0.71 gibbous phase and its -11 magnitude. However no particular sound was heard in the minute that followed. The phenomenon lasted between 3 and 4 seconds, resulting in a very strong emotion.

So we see it crossed a large portion of the sky, 50°; which confirms the trees shadows direction change.

In fact, witnesses are not lacking, I found for example, at allskycamfrance.frenchboard.com/t557-bolide-au-dessus-de-la-lorraine-13-10-2013-21h36-13-lt :

div class="doc">

Hello,

This won't serve much, but I want to emphasize that this re-entry [sic] was reported to me by a relative last night Sunday, October 13th at 10 p.m. (he gave me a probable time between 9:40 p.m. 9:30 p.m.)

He was then on the road from Mulhouse to Strasbourg (northbound), specifically on the RN83/A36 between Colmar and the Haut-Koenigsbourg which should be in the left visual field.

He and his wife did not see the object directly, but saw the sky light in blue "like a full moon night" for 3 to 4 seconds. The moon was already present in the South (Gibbous 189 ° and 29 ° az elec, -11.61 mag according to Stellarium), it seems to suggest a magnitude much higher than the measure actually recorded by the fireball camera.

I will try to clarify the observation according to the witnesses feedback.

[...]

This website provides a video of this meteor recorded on an automatic camera.

A participant in the website's forum indicates that despite the lack of astrometric data, this meteor likely disintegrated and/or fell down in a triangle roughly formed of Luneville - Epinal - Saint-Dié.

Finally, there is at least one other case in which it was reported in a UFO context: case ALSACAT-2013-10-13-CHAMPENAY-1.

Green meteor.

Above: a green meteor.

Evaluation:

The 9:36 p.m. meteor on the Vosges.

Sources references:

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

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 September 15, 2015 Creation, [spa1].
1.0 Patrick Gross September 15, 2015 First published.

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This page was last updated on September 15, 2015.