Huge soundless orangish/greenish hovering ball of light that shoots out sparks.

First let me start by saying that where we live is very rural.  The State forest is my front yard.  Not many homes and very little traffic.  There used to be a landfill but has since closed.
 My brother and I were driving to the store for our mother to get a few items.  My brother was driving the car.  Heading to the west going over the top of the hill to the north we both noticed something hovering above the trees, at first it looked like a helicopter with a weird orangish with a hint of light greenish tinted spot light all lit up and blinding almost like a giant star but it didn't have any sound and it was hovering just above the trees.  The best way to describe it would to say that it look ed like an orange/green street light in the distance, but VERY bright and VERY big, too bright to make out what it looked like without the lights.  It stayed perfectly still and soundless until we got about 30 feet away from the trees where it was hovering.  When we got closer it shot off to the north east at record speed.  The object flew out further into the wooded area and disappeared.
 The weirdest part about it was that it shot out sparks similar to a comets tail when it took off. My brother decided to try to chase it through the woods. On a trail going 40 to 50 miles an hour trying to catch this object it was impossible. I am very familiar with airplanes and helicopters and this was neither. I have never seen an object take off that fast with trailing sparks.
Witness indicates that the date of the sighting is approximate.  PD