Sphere over Rohnert Park, CA

The report, as filed

On July 4th, 2014, at about 8:50pm, in Rohnert Park, Ca., I went outside to take my dog out for a bike ride in the neighborhood. I could hear fireworks going off so I was standing in my driveway looking at the sky to see if I could spot any fireworks before we embarked on our ride. The sky was overcast with cloud cover so I couldn't make out any stars yet and I couldn't really see anything BUT cloud cover. If there was a plane in the sky, I guarantee I would not have been able to see it. It was that overcast. Right when I got out into the driveway, I looked towards the east (the direction of where I take my dog on her nightly run) and immediately saw a bright red sphere in the sky, slowly moving/hovering. I thought it was strange because it was SO overcast- it stood out because it was the only thing visible in the eastern sky besides cloud cover that I could see. It was NOT a firecracker or firework. I saw fireworks later in the evening and they were nothing! like this. The red sphere was large- about the same size as the sphere I'd seen on New Years Day of this year at 12:05am. About the size of Jupiter x 3. The sighting only lasted about 30 seconds. It stood out as a bright red orb, it hovered, and pulsed, about 25 degrees from the horizon (low). Then it began to slowly descend, and then it began to flicker out like a candle would. The red color started to get dimmer and dimmer before it disappeared completely- exactly like a candle would when it burns out. Or when a light bulb is at it's end. It "flickered out" is the best description I can give. I immediately knew that this was unusual because of how overcast the sky was. It was completely silent- no noise at all.

Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #111414). Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.