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

Brief

On 26 July 2009 a civilian witness at Rixheim (Haut-Rhin) observed a white luminous point moving linearly south-to-north at 25–35° elevation for 7–8 seconds before it vanished during a momentary look-away. GEIPAN analyst G. Munsch prepared this annex to test a Soviet-era Cosmos 1151 rocket body (1980-005B, USSPACECOM 11672) as a candidate explanation for the sighting's first phase. The rocket's computed transit at 23h44–23h46 local time traces an SSE-to-NNE arc directionally consistent with the reported motion, though its magnitude of +3.9 to +4.1 is characterized as faint. The case nonetheless retained GEIPAN's D1 classification — marginally anomalous and still unexplained.

Metadata

Agency

GEIPAN / CNES

Release

2007-03-22

Type

PDF • .pdf

Length

1 pages

Classification

UNCLASSIFIED

Programs

GEIPAN, GEPAN, SEPRA

Tags

white luminous point, linear S-N motion, direction change, acceleration, satellite candidate, Rixheim Haut-Rhin France, 2009, GEIPAN D1

Key points

• Annex 04 was prepared by G. Munsch of GEIPAN's IPN unit specifically to match candidate satellites to Phase 1 of the Rixheim observation; the parent case file (2009-07-02361) holds the witness statement and gendarmerie procès-verbal.p.1
• Cosmos 1151 Rocket (USSPACECOM 11672, International Designator 1980-005B, launched January 1980) is the sole candidate satellite identified; it entered from Earth's shadow at 23h44m54s local time at azimuth 149.84° SSE, altitude +39.25°, range 921 km.p.1
• The rocket's orbit of 597.9 x 622.6 km at 82.5° inclination with a 96.9-minute period produces a southerly-to-northerly ground track over Alsace consistent with the witness's reported direction of travel.p.1
• Calculated transit magnitude ranged from +4.1 at appearance to +3.9 at meridian transit — the annex flags this as 'faible luminosité,' barely naked-eye threshold under ideal conditions.p.1
• A second independent query to heavens-above.com returned identical catalog identifiers and orbital parameters (599 x 621 km, 82.5°), cross-validating the calsky.com computation.p.1
• Despite a geometrically plausible satellite candidate, the case retained GEIPAN classification D1 ('peu étrange, reste inexpliqué'), most likely because the reported observation time (~22h20) and the computed transit (~23h44–23h46) are roughly 85 minutes apart.p.1

Verbatim

• Données observationnelles pour le satellite pouvant éventuellement rendre compte de la phase 1 du phénomène observe.

  p.1

• Note : la magnitude entre +4.1 et +3.9 fait qu'il reste de faible luminosité.

  p.1

• Appears: 23h44m54s (satellite exits from Earth's shadow)

  p.1

• Disappears: 23h52m43s (sets on the horizon)

  p.1

Most interesting

• Cosmos 1151 Rocket had been orbiting for nearly 30 years at the time of the sighting — a piece of 1980 Soviet space hardware still active enough to produce a naked-eye transit over French territory in 2009.
• The ~85-minute gap between the witness's reported observation time (~22h20) and the satellite's computed transit (~23h44) is the central unresolved tension that kept the case from closing as explained.
• At transit peak, the rocket body was at only 731 km range and +56° altitude — high in the sky and geometrically favorable — yet still only magnitude +3.9, near the unaided-eye detection limit.
• GEIPAN's D1 tier ('peu étrange, reste inexpliqué') is the mildest anomaly classification in their taxonomy, meaning the agency considered the event marginally unusual rather than genuinely exotic — but still could not formally close it.
• The analyst used two independent online ephemeris platforms and explicitly cross-referenced their outputs, a methodologically careful step for a resource-constrained field investigation unit.