NUFORC Sighting 18615

Occurred: 2001-06-22 21:00 Local
Reported: 2001-07-24 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 30 seconds
No of observers: 1

Location: Downers Grove, IL, USA

Shape: Disk

Orange disc above Downers Grove, IL

The moon was just barely a crescent-shaped sliver that night, so it was a very dark sky. I could see a lot of stars, I could see Mars very brightly in the southern sky (Mars was not moving of course!) I looked directly above my head and saw a bright orangeish disc-shaped object floating along in the sky from east to west at a very steady speed, but not very fast. We are close to O'Hare International Airport so I can easily distinguish a plane or jet flying at night as opposed to, well something that's not a plane! This object flew along for about twenty seconds then went behind a tree from my point of view....the object never reappeared!!! I know what satellites look like in the night sky, this was too big to be a satellite. It was not a plane because planes have flashing lights and planes are not orange and circular! Also, as I mentioned before I realize where Mars was that night. I assure you I was not looking at Mars. Mars was in the southern sky, this object was directly above me. This object was surprisingly bright as well. The orange color was not a dark orange but rather a lighter brighter orange. ???

NUFORC Note:

Source is anonymous. PD

Posted 2001-08-05