Bright light identified as Sirius by gendarmes in Lhuis in 1981

Summary

On the night of November 22, 1981, two gendarmes on duty noticed an extraordinarily bright light in the sky. It appeared stationary and flickering. Through binoculars, they saw flashes of different colors turning on and off erratically around the light. Using a star chart, they placed it to the left of the constellation Orion. The observation lasted several hours. Subsequent verification with astronomical software concluded they were most likely seeing Sirius, one of the brightest stars and particularly visible at that time of year.