The Bierre-lès-Semur Moon Misidentification

In the early morning hours of July 18, 1978, around 4:00 AM, a lone camper near Bierre-lès-Semur in the Côte-d'Or region of France observed what he described as a stationary luminous orange object low on the horizon. The witness characterized the phenomenon as an orange sphere with the shape of an inverted plate or saucer, positioned low in the sky toward the southwest. The camper managed to take three photographs of the object before it disappeared, first slowly and then rapidly toward the south. The entire observation was silent—no sound was heard during the event. The local gendarmerie investigated but found no corroborating witnesses in the area, and when the photographs were developed, they showed nothing of evidentiary value. This case was originally classified by GEIPAN as 'D' (unexplained) under the name PRECY SOUS THIL, but underwent reexamination as part of GEIPAN's ongoing effort to refine conclusions on historical cases. The witness's description of an orange, low-altitude object toward the southwest at 4 AM proved highly consistent with astronomical data. Using Stellarium software, investigators verified that the Moon was present at exactly azimuth 240° (southwest) at the time of observation, precisely matching the direction toward Dompierre-en-Morvan as viewed from the witness location near Lucenay. The Moon's angular height of just 2° above the horizon perfectly explains the witness's description of a low-altitude object with an orange or fiery color—characteristic of a setting moon appearing reddish through atmospheric scattering. Meteorological data indicated cloud formation at that hour, and investigators concluded that the Moon visible through breaks in cloud cover could easily take on various shapes, including the inverted plate shape described. The reported southward movement, though poorly documented, remains compatible with the Moon hypothesis as cloud gaps could have shifted southward, or the witness's perception of movement from the 240° azimuth could have been interpreted as southward motion given the eastward wind patterns that day.