Waning Moon mistaken for a luminous sphere on the D109

Summary

Around 2 a.m. on 19 December 1977, a motorist driving along the D109 in the Jura spotted a whitish luminous sphere with a flattened top, apparently hovering over a valley. It then drifted slowly westward. The driver, accompanied by a dog that reacted visibly, followed the object for about thirty minutes without getting closer. Initially classified C for lack of data, the witness's credibility was never questioned.

Investigators concluded that the object was the waning Moon, positioned in the reported area of the sky. The witness never mentioned the Moon, suggesting fatigue and nighttime driving conditions distorted perception. GEIPAN filed the case as a misidentification of a known astronomical object, rating it of medium interest.