Name: Jeff
Date: July 27, 2007, between 10:30pm and 11pm
Location: Holland, MI
Message: Object was a bright orange, firey even, but no structure was illuminated, only saw light (which apparently was coming from object itself). At first sight, due West (toward or possibly over lake Michigan), object was about the size of a thumbnail at arm’s length, so quite large for a light in the sky. It was actually spooky between its size and how bright it was.
I was viewing Jupiter so I had the telescope out but it was moving too quickly to track. I did look at it through binoculars but got no more useful detail. It moved from being westerly to south-southwest and grew progressively smaller until it faded into the darkness and actually reminded me a bit of a fire’s last ember as it disappeared.
I also noticed that there was no noise, which was a conspicuous absence for how big it was. It had to be quite large and likely very close when I first spotted it, yet it was silent.
Because I wasn’t able to see anything other than a firey-orange mass (something between a ball and a square in shape) I couldn’t estimate its distance or altitude. I can say it was 30-40 degrees above the horizon for the entire time it was visible, which seemed like approximately 3-5 minutes. (wish I had better notes!)
The night was cloudless although the transparency was poor (due to moisture).
I was shown this site after sharing this observation because of its similarity to the 9:30pm St. Claire Shores sighting, which is on the other side of the state but described as heading toward/over water there as well. I am approximately 175 miles from that location and saw the object between an hour and 90 minutes later, although I notice the other sighting describes it as moving in the direction away from Holland at that time (East).
I tend to believe it was the very same object because of how much it struck both of us as firey and unique, although I did not see flashing lights described, nor did I see the structure to say whether it was “turtle-shaped.”
I have a background in aerospace engineering and am an amateur astronomer. I have never seen anything like this, whether man-made or a celestial phenomenon, even in a photograph or a textbook.