Fire-colored sphere mistaken for the Moon in Niergnies, 1978

Summary

In October 1978, two witnesses in Niergnies (Nord) saw a fire-colored luminous sphere hovering over fields. The object remained stationary for several minutes, surrounded by an incomplete red circle, and made no sound. Despite its resemblance to the Moon near the horizon, the witnesses did not identify it as such. GEIPAN classified the case as PAN A, attributing it to a misinterpretation: the Moon was present in the sky but the witnesses failed to mention it, suggesting their visual perception was accurate but their interpretation was not.