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ALSACAT:

ALSACAT is my comprehensive catalog of UFO sighting reports in Alsace, the region is the North-East of France, whether they are "explained" or "unexplained".

The ALSACAT catalog is made of case files with a case number, summary, quantitative information (date, location, number of witnesses...), classifications, all sources mentioning the case with their references, a discussion of the case in order to evaluate its causes, and a history of the changes made to the file. A general index and thematic sub-catalogs give access to these Alsatian case files.

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Case of Sélestat, on July 8, 2002:

Case number:

ALSACAT-2002-07-08-SELESTAT-1

Summary:

On July 8, 2002, I received, like others did, an email from a ufologist friend from Alsace. He which firstly reported seeing a meteor at exactly 02:15 a.m. in the night of that date, as he was driving on highway A 35, near Sélestat in the Bas-Rhin.

The fireball was yellow at the beginning of the observation and green at the end of the observation. It was very visible in the clear cloudless night sky and lasted more than seven seconds. It had a very long trail of yellow and white color and seemed very large.

It came from the area of Corona Borealis and died approximately in the lower region of the Big Dipper, a trajectory of more than 20° in the sky.

The friend informed of this in case some people would say they saw something inexplicable and "huge" in the sky on the night of July 7 to 8, 2002.

The friend also reported that a short time before, "another object, flashing, emitting a very powerful white flash and moving from Corona Borealis toward Cassiopeia, had greatly intrigued him, because of the irregularity of the flash pulse (every ten seconds) and the high altitude he estimated at probably 8,000 to 10,000 meters.

He had observed this phenomenon for more than five minutes, but without being able to realize if it had been a plane or something else. Again, in case of observation by another witness, he would confirm the sighting, but he did not have more information.

Data:

Temporal data:

Date: July 8, 2002
Time: ~00:00
Duration: 5 minutes or more.
First known report date: July 8, 2002
Reporting delay: 18 hours.

Geographical data:

Department: Bas-Rhin
City: Sélestat
Place: Driving by car on the A35 next to Sélestat, UFO in the sky.
Latitude: 48.263
Longitude: 7.419
Uncertainty radius: 5 km

Witnesses data:

Number of alleged witnesses: 1
Number of known witnesses: 1
Number of named witnesses: 1
Witness(es) ages: Adulte.
Witness(es) types: Male, personal friend, ufologist.

Ufology data:

Reporting channel: Email to me and other ufologist friends.
Type of location: Driving by car on familiar highway, UFO in the sky.
Visibility conditions: Night, clear sky.
UFO observed: Yes
UFO arrival observed: Yes
UFO departure observed: Yes
Entities: No
Photographs: No.
Sketch(s) by witness(es): No.
Sketch(es) approved by witness(es): No.
Witness(es) feelings: Puzzled.
Witnesses interpretation: Maybe a plane or something.

Classifications:

Hynek: NL
ALSACAT: Possible plane.

Sources:

[Ref. pgs1:] EMAIL I RECEIVED:

Date: 08.07.2002 7:11:18 p.m. Romance Daylight Time
From: [email address]

Dear friend(s),

[... Information on the progress of a local investigation ...]

Before leave you, I want you to know that I witnessed a wonderful phenomenon, at exactly 2 hours 15 that night, while I was driving on Highway 35, at the level of Sélestat (Bas-Rhin).

It was a fireball (also sometimes called shooting star) of yellow color at the beginning of the observation and green at the end of observation. This phenomenon was highly visible in the very clear sky of this cloudless night and lasted more than seven seconds.

It had a very long trail of yellow and white color and seemed very big.

It came from the region of the sky where Boreal Crown is located (Corona Borealis) and died approximately in the lower region of the Big Dipper (Ursa Major), a trajectory of more than 20° in the sky ...

I tell you about this, in case a potential witness would say they saw an inexplicable and "huge" thing in the sky on the night of 7 to 8 July 2002.

However, a few minutes earlier, another flashing object, emitting a very powerful white flash and heading toward Cassiopeia Corona Borealis, greatly intrigued me, given the irregularity of the flash pulse (every ten seconds) and the very high altitude (probably 8-10000 meters). I observed this phenomenon for more than five minutes, but without being able to realize if it had been a plane or something else.

There too, if there is another witness, I would confirm the observation, unable to bring more precision, however ...

It should be checked whether a meteor shower is expected within a few days (it's a little early for the Leonids, but you never know ...)

Good evening everyone,

[First Name]

Discussion:

Map.

The information on the big meteor could have been useful, however I collected no concurrent testimony to date.

The previous phenomenon moderately intrigued my ufologist friend, he mentioned the possibility of a plane. I did not get any concurrent testimony either.

Evaluation:

Possible plane.

Sources references:

* = Source is available to me.
? = Source I am told about but could not get so far. Help needed.

File history:

Authoring:

Main author: Patrick Gross
Contributors: None
Reviewers: None
Editeur: Patrick Gross

Changes history:

Version: Create/changed by: Date: Description:
0.1 Patrick Gross March 3, 2016 Creation, [pgs1].
1.0 Patrick Gross March 3, 2016 First published.

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This page was last updated on March 3, 2016.