Occurred: 2000-12-17 19:10 Local
Reported: 2000-12-19 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 35 minutes
No of observers: 0

Location: Bolingbrook, IL, USA

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aircraft nearby

Bright twinkling light hovered for 35 minutes southwest of Chicago, IL.

On Sunday December 17, 2000 I spotted a light in the western night sky around 7:10 p.m. CST while driving in my car at the intersection of Route 83 and Route 171 (Archer Avenue) which is on the outskirts of Lemont, IL (southwest of Chicago). The night was clear, cloudless and cold with the temperature hovering around 0 degrees F. The light was approximately 30 degrees above the horizon and at first I thought it was a star because of the twinkling light it emitted. But it seemed too bright and low on the horizon to be a star or a planet. I continued to drive north on Route 83 and then merged onto Interstate 55 (Stevenson Expressway) heading in a southwest direction. The light was still in the same position when I headed southwest on I-55; the time now was about 7:15 p.m. I still thought that the light was probably a star at this time. About 15 minutes later I passed Route 53 in Bolingbrook, IL and the object remained in the same position. At this time I ruled out that it was a commercial jet/plane coming in to land at O'Hare International airport. All planes coming in to land at O'Hare will fly by within 5 - 10 minutes; it had now been 20 minutes since I first spotted the light. Within the next few minutes I noticed the light to twinkle more and once or twice blink out for between 1/2 to 1 seconds (this is only an approximation). There also seemed to be a slight change in altitude in that the light descended just a bit. I then exited I-55 and proceeded north on Weber Road (between Bolingbrook and Romeoville, IL). I then turned west onto 119th St. and drove several miles further to Book Rd. (just south of Naperville, IL across from the Naperville polo club) and turned south onto Book Rd. stopping to observe the light from a stationary position. At the same time a white pickup truck also stopped on Book Rd. behind me just north of 119th (to observe the light I assume). The light remained hovering in the sky in a position WSW of me. I was now close enough to it to discern only that it was no! t a star . Its altitude was not easy to determine, but I did notice that planes, some distance behind the light flying into O'Hare airport, were higher. After a minute or two the light grew in intensity and became very bright, it appeared to twinkle with multiple red and white lights. At this time (now about 7:45 p.m.) I decided to get out of the car to take a picture, but I was too late. The light disappeared. I would estimate that the light was midway between the towns of Bolingbrook, IL and Yorkville, IL.

Posted 2000-12-20

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