ALSACAT-2017-03-07-MULHOUSE-1
In mid-March 2014, one of my best friends explained to me verbally that one recent morning - he did not remember the exact date - early in the morning, about 6:00, he saw from the window of his bedroom a light in the sky, quite intense, rather low on the horizon.
The light was white, bigger than a star. He added that he saw it again the next day or two days later. My friend obviously knows that I am interested in UFOs, and therefore wondered if I had a "rational explanation" for him; at no time did he claim to have seen an alien craft, simply, it was mildly intrigued by this light because he did not see what it could be.
In a typical investigation, I would not give any explanation out of the blue; I would first collect more information; but he is a friend, it was a case that evidently was not of high strangeness, so I suggested him it was, likely, either Venus or an plane with landing lights on, or a satellite reflection or the ISS.
Especially since he told me he had seen the thing the next morning, almost in the same direction and position, but with lower brightness, I was thinking that Venus was probably involved, I offered him to alert me the next time he would see it. As we live within 2 km of distance, it was likely that I would be able to see it too.
This happened on March 7, 2014 at 06:23 a.m., by SMS. No luck, I was not awake at that time and could not get to hear the SMS ringtone. But I had a date and a specific hour, and this was what mostly interested me.
A few days later, as we met at my home, I could point the viewing direction with a fairly good accuracy. Obviously I know his home, so his own position is 1 meter accurate. As of the direction of observation, we had a landmark: a bit on the right of the TV transmitter tower on the hill near the zoo. The elevation, by pointing with the arm, was estimated between 5 and 15 degrees above the horizon - it could not be very precise, the visible horizon being at an altitude higher than the observation point.
So I could enter the data in my astronomy software, and bingo, there was Venus at that date and hour at the exact place where the light had been.
My friend was in agreement with this result. He still found it had seemed very bright in the first observation. But the day rore earlier and earlier between his observations, and it was quite logical that Venus appeared less intense each time.
| Date: | March 7, 2014 |
|---|---|
| Time: | 06:23 a.m. |
| Duration: | 4-5 minutes. |
| First known report date: | 7 mars 2014 |
| Reporting delay: | None. |
| Department: | Haut-Rhin |
|---|---|
| City: | Mulhouse |
| Place: | From home, UFO in the sky. |
| Latitude: | Confidential |
| Longitude: | Confidential |
| Uncertainty radius: | 1 m |
| Number of alleged witnesses: | 1 |
|---|---|
| Number of known witnesses: | 1 |
| Number of named witnesses: | 1 |
| Witness(es) ages: | Adult. |
| Witness(es) types: | Male, executive. |
| Reporting channel: | Directly to me by voice, and by SMS to me. |
|---|---|
| Type of location: | From bedroom, behind window, in city building, 2nd floor, UFO in the sky. |
| Visibility conditions: | Night |
| UFO observed: | Yes |
| UFO arrival observed: | No |
| UFO departure observed: | No |
| Entities: | No |
| Photographs: | No. |
| Sketch(s) by witness(es): | No. |
| Sketch(es) approved by witness(es): | No. |
| Witness(es) feelings: | Mildly puzzled. |
| Witnesses interpretation: | Surely explanable, but no idea. |
| Hynek: | LN |
|---|---|
| ALSACAT: | Venus. |
[Ref. pgs1:] MYSELF:
All the information I obtained are in the Summary at the top of this file.
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I was able to explain to my friend what he had seen: planet Venus.
I obviously will not give his precise location; which would lead to his home address - and I wish to respect his anonymity. Here is, however, the direction of observation:
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He was on the yellow line somewhere in the upper left part, at his home. The landmark we found, the TV tower, is on the yellow line at the location marked "Emetteur".
This gives us the approximate direction of observation: 135°.
So I just had to enter all this in an astronomy software to find that on March 7, 2014, at 06:23 a.m., Venus was indeed visible in the sky, at 131 °, and at the very low elevation of 11°5.
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Venus rose at 04:52 a.m., it went by the meridian at 09:41 p.m..
The Venus-Earth distance was only of 0.557573 UA ie 83.41 million kms. Its minimal distance to Earth is 38,2 million kms and the maximum is of 261,0 million kms.
Its magnitude was -5.4, with 40.29 % of its visible surface lighted by the sun.
Venus.
* = 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 |
| Editeur: | Patrick Gross |
| Version: | Create/changed by: | Date: | Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | July 6, 2015 | Creation, [pgs1]. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | July 6, 2015 | First published. |
