Luminous ball with flashes in Utelle

Summary

On July 31, 2013, a witness on the Plateau de la Madonne d'Utelle observed a luminous ball moving slowly at high altitude, emitting flashes at regular intervals. Although many satellites are visible in the area at night, researchers from GEIPAN considered that it could be the third stage of the rocket that launched the American satellite LAGEOS in 1963. In a sky map oriented to the northwest, with the Big Dipper on the right, a white trace matches the object's path in the sky for 30 minutes. However, due to the imprecision in the exact location of the phenomenon, this hypothesis cannot be confirmed with certainty. GEIPAN classified the case as "B," indicating a likely observation of a satellite or space debris at high altitude whose rotation generates periodic flashes.