Light over Billings, MT

The report, as filed

10/12/11, 8:00pm, clear sky, no clouds. Sunset at 6:32pm I was outside in my backyard and looked up to the north. I saw a stationary brilliant white light in the sky. It appeared to get bigger and brighter. I thought I was seeing a star explode. I located the Big Dipper and the North Star in the sky. This object was down to the right of the North Star and almost level to the second star that points the way to the North Star. It was the length of my index finger away from the North Star. It stayed in the same location for about two to three minutes, then slowly dimmed away to nothing over about 20 seconds. I continued to watch, but could not see anything in the sky close to that spot afterwards. I have seen airplanes that shine a bright light as they are coming toward you that appear to be stationary. But they eventually move and you can tell it’s a plane. If it were a helicopter, I did not hear any noise. Would a helicopter light take 20 seconds to dim? This was the brightest light that I have ever seen. I have also watched satellites and the ISS fly overhead. Sometimes they catch the sun and shine brighter for a bit, but you can see that they are moving and can still follow them when they dim. I am not sure how long it was in that location before I saw it, but it stayed stationary for the few minutes that I watched it before it dimmed away.

Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #136724). Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.