The Steel-Grey Ovoid over Bergiès

Two members of the same astronomy club were setting up equipment on the summit of the Montagne de Bergiès, about 1,360 metres up, on 8 July 2008. At 21:30 by his watch Monsieur A turned to watch the sunset. Monsieur B pointed out a bright point some fifteen degrees above the western horizon. It brightened to roughly the brilliance of Venus at its best, faded from sight and did the same three times, drifting slowly south. B found it again about two minutes later, lower and to the right. A trained the 9x50 finder of their telescope on it and saw "un objet de forme ovoïde (deux assiettes posées l'une sur l'autre)", an ovoid like two plates laid one on the other. It was steel-grey, with a rounded bump on top and a paler lower half. B saw it sway against the finder's crosshairs. Through the same finder an airliner showed its fuselage and contrail. Neither man heard a sound.

What is on the record

A emailed GEIPAN on 13 July. GEIPAN sent an investigator, who visited a month later, found nothing abnormal and confirmed A's testimony and good faith. B was not there and gave no independent statement. GEIPAN's report of 20 November 2012 found that Venus was too close to the Sun to be seen.

GEIPAN weighed a weather balloon at the end of its flight, since the slow drift south matched the ground wind. The second sighting lower and to the right did not fit, short of a second balloon, and the shape did not look like one. The report also flags that A's account and the bearing he gave disagree on which side of the Sun the point stood, and says that if its position jumped between appearances the inquiry should go further. It closes on D1: "observation inexpliquée, moyennement étrange, de bonne consistance". The case page rates the strangeness high; the report and its own classification line say medium.

Why it sits where it does

The page grades L0 · SINGLE ACCOUNT. GEIPAN calls the witnesses qualified observers, but it withholds their identities as Monsieur A and Monsieur B, so the record carries no identified witness. A tier measures sourcing, not the quality of the investigation. What hung in the finder above Bergiès is not resolved here.