Flaming spherical object flying below cloud cover from east to west in a slow steady horizontal motion.At 9pm on September 6, 2009 a friend and I spotted a spherical object in the sky, flying below cloud cover that appeared to be on fire. We were facing south while watching the object move silently from east to west in a slow, steady, horizontal motion. After about 45 seconds, the flames appeared to get dimmer and gradually go out.The object, if compared to a star in the night sky was about 10 times larger than the star. We could clearly see flames; however we were not able to determine what the object was. Fearful that it was an aircraft on fire, I called the local police department. The officer called the FAA and the air traffic control towers in Peoria and Chicago. All aircraft on their radars were accounted for.