Sirius mistaken for an aerial phenomenon in Dry, 1981

Summary

In January 1981 a witness in the Loiret department saw a luminous dot that changed colour and moved erratically, prompting him to call the gendarmerie. Two officers arrived and watched the object for over two hours until 9 p.m.; a later night shift confirmed it was still visible at midnight and 4 a.m. Photos taken by the officers proved unusable, but all testimonies matched in detail.

After re-analysis with updated tools, GEIPAN concluded the phenomenon was the star Sirius, whose position and behaviour — scintillation and chromatic changes caused by atmospheric turbulence — matched the accounts exactly. Case reclassified as A.