GEIPAN Case 2009-07-02361 — RIXHEIM (68) 26.07.2009

Brief

At approximately 23h47-48 local time on July 26, 2009, a single civilian witness sitting on his terrace in Rixheim observed a silent white luminous point track south-to-north for 7-8 seconds before apparently turning westward, brightening, and accelerating — passing nearly overhead and disappearing in open sky to the southwest. GEIPAN mandated a first-level investigator (IPN) who conducted a precision in-person re-enactment mapping seven azimuth-elevation waypoints across two trajectory phases. Multi-radar review via the ELVIRA system found no aircraft track in the sector for the relevant window, and Bale-Mulhouse airport was officially closed at the time. GEIPAN classified the case D1 — low strangeness but unexplained — after ruling out conventional aircraft, COSMOS 1151-Rocket, meteor, Jupiter, and lighter-than-air objects.

Metadata

Agency

GEIPAN / CNES

Release

2007-03-22

Type

PDF • .pdf

Length

10 pages

Classification

UNCLASSIFIED

Programs

GEIPAN, ELVIRA, COSMOS 1151-Rocket

Tags

white luminous point, direction change, silent acceleration, naked-eye visual, Rixheim Haut-Rhin France, 2009, GEIPAN D1, multi-radar negative

Key points

• The witness observed a silent white luminous point moving S-N for 7-8 seconds, then apparently turning westward and accelerating during a second phase of 3-4 seconds, for a total duration of 10-12 seconds with no sound at any point.p.1
• The IPN conducted an in-person daytime re-enactment on October 9, 2009, using a precision inclinometer and magnetic reticle compass to reconstruct seven azimuth-elevation waypoints across both trajectory phases.p.3
• Phase 2 apparent angular velocity is estimated at approximately 26-35 degrees per second — the IPN notes this is inconsistent with a conventional aircraft or helicopter, which would require very low altitude, making both acoustic signature and visible body size incompatible with the observation.p.8
• ELVIRA multi-radar review returned no aircraft track over Rixheim in the 23h30-00h00 window; Bale-Mulhouse airport was also closed at the observation time, nominally excluding commercial and recreational traffic, though an exceptional-authorization flight could not be entirely ruled out.p.6
• COSMOS 1151-Rocket (1980-005-B / catalogue 11672) is a tentative candidate for Phase 1, emerging from Earth shadow at approximately 23h45:54 local time, but angular elevation discrepancy (>20 degrees) and angular velocity discrepancy (witness: ~2.25-2.5 deg/sec vs. satellite: ~1 deg/sec) leave the identification inconclusive.p.8
• The IPN explicitly raises the possibility that the two observed phases represent two distinct stimuli rather than a single object executing a turn, while acknowledging that the perceived turn at the start of Phase 2 argues for a single object.p.7
• The report opening paragraph states the witness went to his terrace at 22h20, but the detailed IPN account and the radio-controlled clock check confirm the observation ended at 23h48 — placing the actual sighting approximately 1.5 hours after the witness went outside, not at 22h20 as the summary implies.p.3
• Case classified D1 by GEIPAN: unexplained but of low strangeness.p.9

Verbatim

• Le témoin reste intrigué par la trajectoire globale du point lumineux incluant un changement de direction et l'accélération importante du phénomène sans qu'aucun bruit ne soit entendu.

  p.1

• Le PAN en lui-même ne présente pas un caractère de haute étrangeté, tant sur le plan de son aspect que sur celui de son évolution.

  p.7

• Notons toutefois que cette accélération reste apparente et qu'elle pourrait résulter (jusqu'à preuve du contraire) d'un effet d'optique dû au rapprochement du PAN en direction du témoin.

  p.7

• Après relecture ELVIRA , aucune trace multiradar sur Rixheim dans le créneau horaire 23h30 => 00h00.

  p.6

• La faible étrangeté inciterait à penser à la présence (exceptionnelle) dans le ciel d'un aéronef de type avion, hélicoptère ou drone, dont la trajectoire aurait pu conduire à un virage puis un quasi survol du domicile.

  p.8

• En résumé, il ne parait pas simple actuellement d'expliquer rationnellement l'observation du témoin, même en scindant arbitrairement le phénomène rapporté en deux événements indépendants.

  p.9

• Le phénomène, bien que peu étrange, reste inexpliqué.

  p.9

Most interesting

• The witness verified the end-time by checking a radio-controlled clock immediately after the observation, recording exactly 23h48 local time — a precision detail that anchors the observation to a window consistent with a known COSMOS 1151-Rocket pass but inconsistent with the 22h20 start time given in the report's summary paragraph, which actually refers to when he went outside.
• The IPN mapped seven azimuth-elevation waypoints during a daytime re-enactment at the witness's terrace using a set-square inclinometer and a magnetic reticle compass — a level of geometric rigor that is unusual for a low-strangeness single-witness case.
• A retrograde (east-to-west) orbital path, implied by the Phase 2 trajectory, would make any known satellite extraordinarily conspicuous; the IPN invokes this argument explicitly against the satellite hypothesis for Phase 2.
• The COSMOS 1151-Rocket is a Soviet booster stage launched in 1980; its consideration as a UAP candidate illustrates GEIPAN's systematic practice of exhausting the full satellite catalog — including decades-old debris — before classifying a case unexplained.
• The IPN notes Jupiter was in the southeast sky at azimuth 131 degrees NM at the time but was blocked from the witness's view by the house directly in front of him, demonstrating how local obstructions factor into GEIPAN's systematic elimination process.
• The witness's original written report estimated 12-15 seconds duration; the IPN re-enactment revised this down to 10-12 seconds — a minor but methodologically significant correction the report explicitly flags.