ALSACAT-1996-08-01-SIERENTZ-1
Around 2002, Emmanuel Dehlinger published an electronic book on the Web in which he claimed that UFO sightings are "created" by "the military" (?) by means of various devices such as luminous balloons; in the book, he proposed a "Study of the wave of August 1, 1996" in France, in which he noted a sighting in Sierentz in the Haut-Rhin, while eliminating this case from his statistics on the grounds that it would be the same as a case in Obernai - which is not true - and while noting all the same that this "wave of August 1, 1996" could be explained by an "atmospheric re-entry" but that "this is not confirmed."
The sighting is said to have appeared in the ufology magazine Lumières Dans la Nuit #340 around 1996; it does appear in a sighting list on the web, but without any details.
In 2017, the "Groupe d'Etude et d'Informations sur les Phénomènes Aérospatiaux Non Identifiés" ("Group for Study and Information on Unidentified Aerospace Phenomena") (GEIPAN) published the French cases of August 1, 1996 collected by the National Gendarmerie, grouped together in a common file with a common explanation, that of an "atmospheric re-entry".
Their summary for the Sierentz case, which is oddly dated of August 2, 1996, indicates the time as 9:30 p.m.; there would have been two male witnesses, and it was about a green ball with a trail, silent, very fast, in descending trajectory.
I show in this dossier that these observations temporally correspond perfectly to the re-entry into the atmosphere of the Russian cargo spaceship "Progress M-31"; however, I have no information on the trajectory yet.
| Date: | August 1, 1996 |
|---|---|
| Time: | 11:03 p.m. |
| Duration: | ? |
| First known report date: | 1996 |
| Reporting delay: | Hours, months. |
| Department: | Haut-Rhin |
|---|---|
| City: | Sierentz |
| Place: | ? |
| Latitude: | 47.657 |
| Longitude: | 7.455 |
| Uncertainty radius: | 3 km. |
| Number of alleged witnesses: | 2 |
|---|---|
| Number of known witnesses: | 2 |
| Number of named witnesses: | 0 |
| Witness(es) ages: | ? |
| Witness(es) types: | Male. |
| Reporting channel: | To the Gendarmerie Nationale. |
|---|---|
| Type of location: | ? |
| Visibility conditions: | Night. |
| UFO observed: | Yes. |
| UFO arrival observed: | No. |
| 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: | ? |
| Hynek: | NL |
|---|---|
| ALSACAT: | Space junk reentry. |
[Ref. uwb1:] WEBSITE "UFOWEB":
| COMMUNES | DEPT | LATITUDES | LONGITUDES | YEARSS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sierentz | 68 | 47.667 | 7.467 | 1996 |
[Ref. edr1:] EMMANUEL DEHLINGER:
Study of the wave of August 1, 1996
This wave may occur during an atmospheric re-entry, but this is unconfirmed. The cases studied here are all those for which the time is indicated. Although most cases visually evoke an atmospheric re-entry, the time range of the observations which extends over more than 45 minutes and the inconsistencies in the directions of movement weaken this hypothesis.
The details of the cases can be found in appendix B § XXI.
There are 5 cases (100%) of use of the ECS effect including 1 case of use of the EC2 effect, i.e. 20%.
The commentary on each case is unfortunately very brief, which does not allow us to state with certainty that the appearance of Obernai (Bas-Rhin) is different from that observed in Sierentz (Haut-Rhin), ~89 km further south. However, these 2 cases benefit from the ECS effect combined with the ECL effect, which is exceptional (1 chance in 170). To avoid counting twice by mistake a case very favorable to our hypothesis, we preferred to eliminate the case of Sierentz.
Sierentz (Haut-Rhin) 7° 28 E 47° 40’ N 22:04C -9° 10’ 310° -0° 49’ 97° ECS, ECL, EC2 J1, NC1 Round ufo. At ~89 km south of Obernai. This case is eliminated because one cannot affirm with certainty that it is different from the observation of Obernai. R Nr 340 p. 33
The source is given as LDLN #340 p. 33.
[Ref. gei1:] GROUPE D'ETUDES ET D'INFORMATIONS SUR LES PHENOMENES AEROSPATIAUX NON IDENTIFIES (G.E.I.P.A.N.):
SUMMARY
Probable observations of an atmospheric re-entry.
DESCRIPTION
On the evening of August 1, 1996, many witnesses observed the very rapid passage of a very luminous white ball with a yellow and green trail. The luminous phenomenon lasts about thirty seconds. It is described in the same terms from Cantal to Alsace. The times indicated differ a little but the phenomenon seems to have occurred between 9:30 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. with a movement towards the North-West.
This large-scale phenomenon, seen by many witnesses in eastern France, is probably an atmospheric re-entry.
TESTIMONIES
[... other testimonies in other places...]
SIERENTZ (68) 02.08.1996 T3
[... other testimonies in other places...]
SIERENTZ (68) 02.08.1996 T4
[... other testimonies in other places...]
| WITNESS | |
| DATE OF THE OBSERVATION | 08/02/1996 |
| GENDER | M |
| REACTION | Emotion - Curiosity, Interest - Active |
| CONDITION | |
| WEATHER CONDITIONS | Sun or Light night |
| LOCAL DATE AND HOUR | 08/02/1996 09:30 p.m. |
| REFERENCE FRAME | Sky |
| DISTANCE BETWEEN PHENOMENON AND WITNESS | Dos not know |
| START OF THE OBSERVATION | Conditions of appearance provoked by the witness |
| END OF THE L'OBSERVATION | Conditions of disappearance provoked by the phenomenon |
| LOCALIZATION | |
| HORIZONTAL DIRECTION OF OBSERVATION | 0.00 |
| TRAJECTORY | Descending Descending |
| NATURE OF THE OBSERVATION OR DECRIPTIVE TERMSS | Craft |
| CHARACTERISTIC OF THE OBSERVATION | Trail, Tail |
| GLOBAL SHAPE | 3D - 2 axis of symmetry - Spherical, Ball |
| COLOR | Green |
| APPARENT SIZE | ping-pong ball |
| APPARENT SPEED | Tremendous |
| NOISET | None, Total silence |
| EFFECT ON THE ENVIRONMENT | Unknown - Not specified |
| NUMBER OF OBSERVED PHENOMENA | Only one |
| WITNESS | |
| DATE OF THE OBSERVATION | 08/02/1996 |
| GENDER | M |
| REACTION | Emotion - Curiosity, Interest - Active |
| CONDITION | |
| LOCAL DATE AND HOUR | 08/02/1996 09:30 p.m. |
| REFERENCE FRAME | Sky |
| DISTANCE BETWEEN PHENOMENON AND WITNESS | Does not know |
| LOCALIZATION | |
| APPARENT SIZE | ping pong ball |
| EFFECT ON THE ENVIRONMENT | Unknown - Not specified |
| NUMBER OF OBSERVED PHENOMENA | 1 |
[Ref. jbu1:] JEROME BEAU:
Thursday, August 1, 1996 at 9:30 p.m. to 45 A very large number of witnesses observe the very rapid passage of a very luminous white ball with a yellow and green trail. The luminous phenomenon lasted about 30 s and is described in the same terms from Cantal to Alsace. The phenomenon seems to have moved towards the northwest.
This large-scale phenomenon, seen by many witnesses in eastern France, is probably an atmospheric re-entry.
|
On May 5, 1996, the Russian automated and unmanned logistics spaceship "Progress M-31" was launched from Baikonur in Kazakhstan by the Roscosmos agency using a Soyuz-U rocket, to bring cargo to the Russian space station MIR, which was done successfully. It was deorbited at 19:44 UTC, then re-entered and burned in the atmosphere on August 1, 1996 until 20:33 UTC i.e. 09:33 p.m. local time in Alsace.
Below: Progress M52, similar to Progress M31.
|
The sources are numerous, see for example planet4589.org/space/gcat/data/derived/launchlog.html or en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_in_spaceflight
The most complete data I had (below) was on space.kursknet.ru/cosmos/english/cargoes/prm31.sht
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Unfortunately I have not yet managed to obtain its reentry trajectory.
Space junk reentry.
* = Source is available to me.
? = Source I am told about but could not get so far. Help needed.
| Main author: | Patrick Gross |
|---|---|
| Contributors: | None |
| Reviewers: | None |
| Editeur: | Patrick Gross |
| Version: | Create/changed by: | Date: | Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | September 1, 2022 | Creation, [edr1], [uwb1], [gei1]. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | September 1, 2022 | First published. |
