Mars mistaken for a saucer at Saint-Ciers-d'Abzac

Summary

In January 1978, three people in Saint-Ciers-d'Abzac (Gironde) watched a reddish oval object hover for about five minutes before accelerating and vanishing. The gendarmerie investigated and GEPAN initially rated the case unexplained. A later review reclassified it as A: the phenomenon matched the position and appearance of the planet Mars along the reported line of sight. The witnesses' credibility was never questioned. The case is a representative example of GEIPAN's analytical process, where a seemingly anomalous sighting finds an astronomical explanation upon closer examination.