I stepped outside for a cigarette at 10:45pm and immediately noticed a bright light in the sky off to the northwest which i kept my eye on the entire time i smoked my cigarette because it just seemed out of place and didn't seem to be moving. i decided to go inside and grab another cigarette and my coffee so i could continue watching this light which continued to hover for another 15min before it slowly started to make its way to the northwest. the sky was quite clear and there were only two planes that flew over around this time which were traveling to the west directly above my home. i know the object had to be at least 1mi away due to the fact the freeway is exactly one mile to the north of my home and i could see it across the fields, the light seemed to be at least a half mile north of the freeway somewhere above a lake and some woods that are in that direction. the only thing i noticed about this light was it seemed to change in intensity at times and there were no other visible lights indicating a plane or helicopter. i've seen planes in the sky around here with their landing lights on while circling waiting to come into either flint or lansing mi and it wasn't one of those due to the fact it had hovered for quite some time in one area.