Date of Sighting: October 9, 2008
Time of Sighting: 9:03 PM CDT
Date Sighting Reported: October 9, 2008
Duration of Sighting: Unknown
Location of Sighting: Chicago Ridge, Illinois
Latitude: 41.7 Degrees North
Longitude: 87.79 Degrees West
Number of Witnesses: One
Weather: A Few Clouds Were Observed at 15,000 Feet. Winds Were Calm.

Description: A few minutes after 9:00 PM in Chicago Ridge Illinois, 10/9/08 I was playing with my dog in my yard. The dog suddenly looked up in as if following something moving quickly. I was already facing southwest and I see this light (completely white) as bright as a star rapidly and silently traveling northwest to southeast. The forward part was shaped like a half sphere and the trailing end almost cone shaped. It was not like a meteor where the trailing end is like a tail. This seemed like a complete shape. I live by Midway Airport and any aircraft landing is so close you can read the markings on it. This was not an aircraft in any sense, it made no sound and was traveling more at the speed of a missile. It was not in any flight pattern aircraft in the region would make. It disappeared into a cloud which was actually far below a commercial plane traveling east to west. It never emerged from the other side of the cloud.

Comments: The light was not the International Space Station (ISS) according to satellite position charts. (The ISS had been visible earlier.) Perhaps the object could have been another satellite, but the shape description sounds unusual and doesn't fit the description of a satellite.

Update - December 4, 2008: We received comments from a local UFO investigator who is also an amateur astronomer. He saw the same object and said that the bright light was a fireball and was likely either a bolide (bright meteor) or re-entering space debris.