FONTEVRAUD L'ABBAYE (49) 1980

Summary

In March 1980, several military personnel in the Maine-et-Loire region observed an unusual luminous phenomenon for about an hour. They saw a ball larger than a star, with a yellowish color, emitting intense beams of light. The object was seen in the west, slightly above the horizon, though without precise angular measurement. After reviewing star charts, it was found that Venus was in that direction, about 11 degrees above the horizon, with a very high magnitude of -4.22. Although Sirius was also visible with a magnitude of -1.45, the witnesses likely mistook Venus for the observed phenomenon.