Incident: 1 April 2026, approximately 21:00–21:27, Vitrolles, Bouches-du-Rhône, France. GEIPAN case 51748, class A: Venus.
A conspicuous light beyond an apartment terrace seemed unusually bright and changed from white towards orange. Its apparent descent made it a useful sky-identification case: an observer’s first elevation estimate could be checked against recorded scenery and an astronomical reconstruction.
The witness’s intermittent observations
The published technical questionnaire describes observations from a first-floor apartment and terrace in the general direction of Marignane airport. The observer used a Google Pixel 7 Pro and a Sony camera with an 85 mm lens. The account includes periods indoors, so the stated interval should not be treated as uninterrupted watching or filming.
The light was initially judged high, then much lower. A distance estimate in the questionnaire was the witness’s estimate, not a measured range. The official GEIPAN summary explains that the investigation reassessed the height using the video and matched the behaviour with Venus setting.
The sky comparison
GEIPAN publishes a two-page comparison of the scene and Stellarium sky. The reconstructions show Venus low in the western sky at the relevant evening times. The agency associated the orange appearance with its low elevation and reported that the witness later also proposed Venus.
The useful comparison concerns direction, height and change over time together. Brightness alone cannot give a distance to an unresolved light, while a phone’s image of a bright point should not automatically be read as a physical outline. Those distinctions explain why the recorded landscape was more useful than the initial angular estimate alone.
The surviving record
This is an identified case in GEIPAN’s classification, not an outstanding report awaiting an explanation. UKPX reviewed the official summary, the relevant handwritten account pages and both published sky-comparison pages. It has not analysed the original video files.
The case also illustrates a geographical trap in archival research: there is another French commune called Vitrolles. The questionnaire and official record establish Bouches-du-Rhône. The town-hall photograph and map reference below concern that commune and do not reveal the witness’s home.
Location and source record
Approximate centre of Vitrolles commune 13117 in Bouches-du-Rhône, not Vitrolles in Hautes-Alpes, the private apartment or an object position. Coordinates follow the checked geographical reference.
UKPX reference added 6 November 2026. Incident year: 2026. Browse Historical Cases · More UFO / UAP / USO references.