The Moon mistaken for a bright disc in Vendin-le-Vieil

Summary

From 2:45 a.m. on 12 November 1986, several people in Vendin-le-Vieil and Hénin-Beaumont watched a bright disc that seemed to follow them. One witness remarked the Moon looked very low, but another insisted it was not the Moon. Investigation showed the Moon's actual azimuth at the time was 261°, very close to the westward direction (270°) the witnesses indicated. The gibbous Moon, partly hidden by clouds, was not immediately recognised. Witness sketches matched its appearance, and the slow diagonal descent exactly replicated a setting celestial body. The phenomenon vanished at 3:07, just four minutes before the actual moonset at 3:11. GEIPAN classified the case as A—fully identified.