2012-01-20 - Sarasota, FL - Light

Orange light seen in sky North of Sarasota, FL

I was walking my daughter’s dog at about 7-7:30 pm on Friday evening (01/20/2012) in Sarasota, FL.

We were walking toward the North when I looked up at the sky and noticed an orange "something" approximately 45 degrees off of the horizon in the sky.

My first thought was that Mars was looking orange tonight, but I realized that whatever I was seeing was not Mars. It was, however, about the same brightness as the planet Venus in the night sky.

I then thought I had never seen an orange light on any plane (as I live quite close to the local airport) and did not see any flashing lights on this. I did see aircraft in the area shortly thereafter.

I stopped walking to determine if it was moving at all, as it did not seem to be while we walked. I and the dog stopped for about 30 seconds, but the object did not appear to change position.

I then thought we would go back to the house so I could get my binoculars so I could get a better look at it.

We had walked about halfway back to the house (making sure I kept my eye on the object) when it just faded out.