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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 Mulhouse, on September 19, 1983:

Case number:

ALSACAT-1983-09-19-MULHOUSE-1

Summary:

The ufology bulletin Ufologia, of the ufology group Ceercle Français de Recherches Ufologiques, in January 1984, published an excerpt from the regional newspaper L'Alsace for September 20, 1983, headlined "An unindentifiedflying object in the sky of Mulhouse?"

The article told that several people claim to have seen on the morning of September 19, 1983, in the sky of Mulhouse, a very luminous white ball, the size of an orange. According to the witnesses, this "ball" came around 6:40 a.m. from the side of the Hardt forest, remained hovering for several minutes above the city and gradually disappeared in a westerly direction around 7:10 a.m.

One of the witnesses told: "We didn't have the impression of speed, the craft was round, shining like crystal. Then it became smaller and smaller."

Data:

Temporal data:

Date: September 19, 1983
Time: 06:40 a.m.
Duration: 30 minutes.
First known report date: September 20, 1983
Reporting delay: Hour, 1 day.

Geographical data:

Department: Haut-Rhin
City: Mulhouse
Place: ?
Latitude: 47.742
Longitude: 7.336
Uncertainty radius: 6 km.

Witnesses data:

Number of alleged witnesses: Several.
Number of known witnesses: ?
Number of named witnesses: 0
Witness(es) ages: ?
Witness(es) types: ?

Ufology data:

Reporting channel: The regional Press.
Type of location: ?
Visibility conditions: Day.
UFO observed: Yes.
UFO arrival observed: ?
UFO departure observed: Yes.
Entities: No.
Photographs: No.
Sketch(s) by witness(es): No.
Sketch(es) approved by witness(es): No.
Witness(es) feelings: ?
Witnesses interpretation: ?

Classifications:

Hynek: DD
ALSACAT: Possible balloon.

Sources:

[Ref. ufa1:] UFOLOGY BULLETIN "UFOLOGIA":

Scan.

AN UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECT IN THE SKY OF MULHOUSE?

Several people claim to have seen yesterday morning, September 19, 1983, in the sky of MULHOUSE, a very luminous white ball, the size of an orange. According to the witnesses, this "ball" came around 6:40 a.m. from the side of the Hardt, remained IMMOBILE for several minutes above the city and gradually disappeared in a westerly direction around 7:10 a.m.

- "We didn't have the impression of speed, the craft was round, shining like crystal. Then it became smaller and smaller," said one of the witnesses.

Excerpt from "L'ALSACE" 09/20/1983

Discussion:

Map.

On September 19, 1983, at 6:40 a.m. from Mulhouse, the day is breaking, the sun has just passed the horizon, the Moon did not rise until 6:00 p.m.

Venus rose at 04:24 a.m., at 06:40 a.m. it is at 113° and elevation 29°, at 07:10 a.m. it is at 120°, elevation 34°, and as the day has risen it should hardly be visible anymore.

We are told that the object is towards the Hardt forest, therefore towards the East, compatible with the 113° of Venus, then lost from sight of towards the West, which excludes Venus.

There remains the possibility of a weather balloon, nothing in the report allowing to exclude this.

Evaluation:

Possible balloon.

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
Editor: Patrick Gross

Changes history:

Version: Create/changed by: Date: Description:
0.1 Patrick Gross July 28, 2022 Creation, [ufa1].
1.0 Patrick Gross July 28, 2022 First published.

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This page was last updated on July 28, 2022.