The Turning Light at Rixheim

Late on 26 July 2009 a witness sat out on a terrace at Rixheim, near Mulhouse, watching the stars. For seven or eight seconds the witness followed a white point of light moving in a straight line from south to north, 25 to 35 degrees above the horizon, and took it for a satellite. After a glance away of a second or two, the light was no longer on its path. Instead a point of light was beginning a turn to the west, towards the Habsheim aerodrome, that lasted two or three seconds. It then went straight at high speed and passed directly overhead in silence. The whole sighting lasted ten to twelve seconds.

What is on the record

GEIPAN is the unit of the French space agency CNES that investigates unidentified aerial phenomena. It holds this case as RIXHEIM (68) 26.07.2009 and classes it D1. Class D means GEIPAN investigated and could not explain what was seen. The released file holds a procès-verbal, a radar trace, a sky chart, satellite data, a regional map and an investigation report.

GEIPAN notes that nothing proves that the witness saw a single light rather than two. Aircraft were ruled out because radar showed no trace near Rixheim between 23.30 and midnight. Jupiter was too low on the horizon. A satellite did pass, a COSMOS 1151 rocket stage, but at 57 degrees of elevation, against the 25 to 35 degrees the witness gave. GEIPAN calls the phenomenon "peu étrange" (not very strange) and still unexplained. It explains the D1 rating by the single testimony and the impossibility of estimating the light's distance.

The times in GEIPAN's summary look contradictory: 22.20 for the start and 23.48 for the end of a twelve-second sighting. The investigation report explains it. The witness sat down on the terrace at about 22.20 and the light came much later. The end time came from a radio-controlled clock checked straight afterwards. The investigator also weighed a meteor and found it a poor fit, with no trail, no sparks and no break-up.

Why it sits where it does

L0 · SINGLE ACCOUNT. GEIPAN withholds the identities of its witnesses, so the released record carries no identified witness. The tier measures sourcing, not the quality of an investigation that tested several explanations. What turned over Rixheim is not resolved here.