ALSACAT-2013-12-08-RUELISHEIM-1
In March 2014 I found on a UFO website publishing a summary of the sightings in 2013, a very brief report in which it is only said that on December 8, 2013, at 08:35 p.m. someone saw, from Ruelisheim, a "luminous object" looking like a "white led", with the speed of a shooting star, moving in straight line, in 2 or 3 seconds before disappearing. Five minutes later there was a "white blue flash then nothing anymore."
A dimension is given as about 1/5th of the full moon.
| Date: | December 8, 2013 |
|---|---|
| Time: | 08:35 p.m. |
| Duration: | 5 minutes. |
| First known report date: | March 1, 2014 or earlier. |
| Reporting delay: | Day, months? |
| Department: | Haut-Rhin |
|---|---|
| City: | Ruelisheim |
| Place: | ? |
| Latitude: | 47.821 |
| Longitude: | 7.358 |
| Uncertainty radius: | 1 km |
| Number of alleged witnesses: | ? |
|---|---|
| Number of known witnesses: | 1 |
| Number of named witnesses: | 0 |
| Witness(es) ages: | ? |
| Witness(es) types: | ? |
| Reporting channel: | Web report? |
|---|---|
| Type of location: | From village? UFO in 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: | ? |
| Hynek: | NL |
|---|---|
| ALSACAT: | Possible satellites, possible planes. |
[Ref. odi1:] "OVNI-DIRECT" WEBSITE:
Date: Dec 08, 2013
Place: Ruelisheim
Luminous object "white led", shooting star speed, straight line, 2, 3 seconds and disappearance then 55 mns later : white blue flash then nothing anymore.
Dimension about 1/5° of the full moon.
Hour: 08:35 p.m.
Duration: 2 sec
|
Ruelisheim is about 25 kilometers in the North-East of the Basel-Mulhouse airport. Airliners on approach or departure are common. Sometimes such an aircraft with its landing lights on, is directed opposite to the viewer for a moment and then veers; which may appear as a big flash of light which increases and then fades.
At the airport, between the 8:50 p.m. 8:20 p.m. ET, there are typically 2 or 3 aircraft arrivals and 2 or 3 aircraft departures.
I can not ensure that this is the correct explanation, the "shooting star speed" would oppose it. But does the witness really know what the speed of a shooting star is?
There is also the possibility that the light was a reflection of the sun on a satellite's panel.
From Ruelisheim, we do have three bright potentially visible satellites in this time period. The ISS (International Space Station) was not visible.
Below:
The observer is in Ruelisheim, at the green cross. The area surrounded in green is the portion of the trajectory in which the three satellites can be seen from Ruelisheim.
Note that in this area, the bottom left part is still in the sun. This implies that these satellites may have reflected the sun, as they passed in the North-West of the observer.
|
Finally there is the possibility that there was within the 5 minutes indicated a combination of different objects, for example, the passage of an airliner and that of a satellite. The observer may have associated them if he had looked away for a moment. Or, the observer may have been conscious that the two things were not necessarily the same. A possibility is that a first satellite's flash occurred and five minutes later or so, the flash of another satellite occurred. After all they are pretty much on the same path and do pass at some 3-4 minutes interval between the first and the two others.
As no viewing direction and no angular elevation has been indicated, there will probably never be a sure explanation.
Possible satellites, possible planes.
* = 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 | March 8, 2014 | Creation, [odi1]. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | March 8, 2014 | First published. |
