2006-03-07 - Cleveland, OH - Fireball

Sphere, big as a setting sun(yet no illumination beyond the sphere itself) sitting and then sinking below the horizon over Lake Erie

I live about 12 houses from lake erie, and was leaving my house around 2:40am. As I pulled out of my drive, I noticed what looked like a harvest moon sitting right on Lake Erie. I almost drove away not thinking anything of it, but I decided to drive up to the waters edge to have a closer look. The shape that I saw was spherical, but only 60% percent of it was viewable(similiar to a cresent moon). It was about the size of the sun just before it sets over the lake during the summer months. It was fiery orange red in color. It seemed very bright yet the illumination did not go beyond the sphere itself. At this point I still, may have left just thinking what I saw was odd, but the sphere seemed to be dissappearing below the horizon. I decided to race back home and get my digital camera. I drove down my street, pulled in my drive and looked back towards the lake and noticed that only half of the visible portion of the sphere remained. I ran into my house grabbed my camera, ran back out and it was gone. This sphere that seemd to be as big as the sun setting in a summer evening sank below the horizon in a mere 5 minutes...