2011-12-31 - Avinger, TX - Oval

We witnesed a reddish, paper lantern shaped object moving through the sky, about 20 degrees above the horizon.

Family and friends were outside shooting fireworks with the kids. It was around 9:30 pm. It was a clear night. Looking in a northerly direction, I noticed a reddish object moving to the right, in an easterly direction. It was about 20 degrees above the horizon. It was shaped like a paper lantern. I pointed it out to my wife and nephew.

At first, we thought it was some type of firework someone down the street had set off. It is hard to say how fast it was moving, but I believe it was faster than the international space station, which I have seen many times. We watched it from the front of the house and when it went behind the house, we ran to the backyard and watched it til it went out of sight. We probably saw it for about two minutes.

There was only one object. It was shaped like a Japanese paper lantern. It was reddish in color, but the color was changing from deep red to almost orange. It was bigger than anything else in the sky, even bigger than what Venus looks like when it is setting. As best as I could tell, it moved in a straight line, no zig-zagging. We did not hear any sound and we could not see any blinking lights on it.

I have 28 years of power plant experience, my wife has taught school 14 years and my nephew works at a chemical plant. I have some knowledge of the night sky, having studied star charts so I could learn the constellations. I also try to watch the space station when it comes over and I keep up with meteor showers and watch them, depending on my work schedule.