2005-03-03 - Holland, MI - Sphere

Planet-like spherical light in area where no planets should have been

My brother was driving me home from work and I was looking out the window at the stars because the sky was nice and clear. In the northwest I could see the constellation Cassiopeia and underneath it, approximately 10 degrees above the horizon was a amber colored spherical light. It was larger than a star and wasn't moving so I assumed it was probably Mars. The light was slowly fading and getting brighter like thin clouds were passing in front of it, but I could not see any clouds in that direction. As we drove along it became obscured by trees, and I lost sight of it. I didn't really think it was unusual until I checked 2 separate sky maps and there were no planets in that area on the maps. The object was somewhere between the constellations Andromeda and Lacerta. An airplane flew past approximately 5 degrees above the object, but I'm not sure whether it was at the same distance as the sphere. I told my brother there was something in the sky, but he missed it because the trees hid it when he turned to look.