Venus mistaken for a descending object in Marseille

Summary

At dusk on 31 March 2018, a witness in Marseille observed from his balcony a luminous ball with shifting colours that seemed to descend slowly, as though a star were falling in slow motion. The light disappeared behind the hill of Notre-Dame de la Garde. Although the observer believed Venus was hidden by the hill, reconstruction showed the planet was visible, very low on the horizon, dropping from 2° to 0.5° elevation over ten minutes.

The colour changes are explained by atmospheric effects on celestial bodies near the horizon. The perceived motion corresponds to Venus's actual displacement, noticeable to the naked eye at such low elevation. GEIPAN classification A.