It was about midnight. I took the dog out by the lake behind my house. Nothing unusual at first. All at once an intense blue/white light came on and was shining down thru the tree I was under. The first thing I thought of was I was in a direct path of a lightning strike (it was that intense!).I looked skyward, did not get a chance to move to a completely open area. But from my vantage the area around me was completely illuminated and as I looked up there was a unbelievably bright light about 3X as big as the moon. As soon as I caught a glimpse of it ...like flipping a switch,,, it just disappeared from the sky. Then all I saw were stars in the sky. No clouds. No planes. Nothing.There was no movement..no noise.. weirdest thing I have seen in 61 years. Not a comet (no tail)... stationary.. intense light for approximately 5 seconds then gone. That's it.. wish it would have stayed around long enough to provide more information,I would be curious if anyone else in the area saw it.