Moon confusion at Sainte-Cerotté

Summary

Around 1:20 a.m. on 18 December 1977, about ten residents of Sainte-Cerotté (Sarthe) watched a reddish glow descend, rise and vanish westward in total silence. They could not agree on the object's shape or distance, and no other reports reached the gendarmerie. Originally classified C by GEPAN, the case was later downgraded to A after investigators identified a likely confusion with the Moon near the horizon. The witnesses' accounts were consistent and credible, but fatigue, darkness and the Moon's unusual apparent position are thought to have distorted their perception. Rather than a fabricated sighting, the case illustrates how environmental and psychological conditions can lead to misidentification of a well-known astronomical object.