GEIPAN Case 2014-06-50078 — ETRELLES (35) 01.06.2014

Brief

This seven-page document is the output of the public astronomical tool CalSky, run by GEIPAN investigators against the exact reported time and position of the Etrelles sighting. The observer site was fixed at WGS84 Lon -1d11m38.85s, Lat +48d03m36.44s, Alt 140 m. Thirty-one satellite events were calculated for the window opening at 22:36 CET; at the critical moment three objects — Cosmos 2221 (3.5 mag, 76.6° elevation), Terra, and the classified USA 245/KH — were simultaneously transiting. Despite this orbital density, the underlying GEIPAN case retained its D1 (unexplained) classification, indicating investigators found no single satellite pass sufficient to account for the reported behavior.

Metadata

Agency

GEIPAN / CNES

Release

2007-03-22

Type

PDF • .pdf

Length

7 pages

Classification

UNCLASSIFIED

Programs

GEIPAN, GEPAN/SEPRA/GEIPAN

Tags

dark mass, two small lights, sudden acceleration, nocturnal visual, France, 2014, GEIPAN D1, Ille-et-Vilaine, satellite correlation study, Etrelles

Key points

• CalSky was queried specifically for Etrelles, France at the reported sighting time of 1 June 2014, 22:50:18 TDT, for a one-hour calculation window.p.1
• At the critical moment, Cosmos 2221 was culminating at 3.5 magnitude and 76.6° elevation (609.5 km altitude), with an angular velocity of 0.71°/s — the fastest-moving bright object in the sky at that instant.p.2
• Terra (NORAD 25994, 4.0 mag, 23.6° elevation) and USA 245/KH (NORAD 39232, a classified US imaging satellite, 4.1 mag, 32.8° elevation) were also transiting simultaneously at 22:50.p.2
• The Yaogan 9 formation (satellites A/B/C, NORAD 36413-36415) transited near-simultaneously around 23:03, each peaking between 72° and 74.7° elevation — three co-orbital objects that can appear as a single body with multiple lights.p.4
• The ISS passed at 23:22:30 at a peak magnitude of -2.0, the brightest object in the night sky during the full window.p.4
• The NOSS 2-1 naval ocean surveillance triad (USA 61/62/E) transited around 23:39-23:44, a three-satellite formation capable of appearing as a dark mass with separated light points.p.5
• Thirty-one total satellite events were enumerated, using a dataset dated 31 May 2014 — one day before the sighting.p.6
• The CalSky session was timestamped 7 July 2014 at 9:46 UTC, approximately five weeks after the June 1 event.p.7

Verbatim

• Select start of calculation: Date: 1 June 2014 Time: 22 : 50 : 18 . 00 in TDT

  p.1

• Observer Site etrelles, France WGS84: Lon: -1d11m38.85s Lat: +48d03m36.44s Alt: 140m All times in CET or CEST (during summer)

  p.2

• Appears 22h41m46s 8.6mag az:348.7° NNW horizon Culmination 22h48m18s 3.5mag az:262.7° W h:76.6° distance: 624.9km height above Earth: 609.5km elevation of Sun: -7° angular velocity: 0.71°/s

  p.2

• Appears 23h22m30s -2.0mag az:105.7° ESE h:12.3° Disappears 23h25m42s -0.5mag az: 75.2° ENE horizon

  p.4

• 31 Items/Events: Export to Outlook/iCal Print E-mail Used satellite data set is from 31 May 2014

  p.6

• Appears Local time at which the satellite appears visually. The first figure indicates the visual brightness of the object. The smaller the number, the brighter and more eye-catching it appears to an observer.

  p.6

Most interesting

• USA 245/KH (NORAD 39232, 2013-043-A) — a classified US reconnaissance satellite — was transiting at the exact time of the sighting, adding an intelligence-asset dimension to the satellite-hypothesis matrix that GEIPAN investigators had to account for.
• The NOSS 2-1 formation (three US naval surveillance satellites flying in tight triad) was visible around 23:39-23:44; such formations are a known source of 'dark object with multiple lights' misidentifications in the UAP literature.
• Cosmos 2221 peaked at 76.6° elevation — nearly overhead — at almost the exact reported sighting time, yet the case was still classified D1 (unexplained), implying witnesses observed behavior inconsistent with a satellite pass.
• CalSky was a Swiss-developed public service used by amateur astronomers worldwide; its deployment here reflects GEIPAN's standard methodology of exhausting catalogued orbital objects before assigning an unexplained classification.
• The Yaogan 9 A/B/C cluster (Chinese reconnaissance satellites) transited in close formation near 23:03, peaking above 72° elevation — a rare three-object formation pass within 90 minutes of the primary sighting time.
• The satellite dataset used in the calculation was from May 31, 2014 — the day before the sighting — meaning any object launched or significantly maneuvered on June 1 would not appear in this analysis.