2001-08-23 - Ogden, IA - Light

I saw a strange light in the sky that moved in a way that convential aircraft cannot move.

I was camping at Don Williams Lake near Ogden, Iowa, with my mother and daughter on the night of August 23, 2001. They had already gone to bed, and I was enjoying some quiet time alone, reclining in my chair and looking at the stars on what was a fairly clear night. At approximately 11:00 or shortly after, I noticed that one of the "stars" in the northeast part of the sky was starting to move. It was moving slowly towards the south, increasing in brightness as it moved. At its brightest, I would compare it in appearence to Venus, but roughly 2-3x larger. It was yellowish-white in color and made no sound. After about 5-10 seconds, it stopped moving and dimmed to its original brightness. It sat motionless for about 30-45 seconds, then increased in brightness again and shot off towards the east at a very high rate of speed, again making no sound. It disappeared behind some hills on the horizon, and I did not see it again the rest of the evening.