On july 17th at approx 1:15am, my roomates and I spotted a large, orange object stationary just to the left of the moon's halo. I am located about 30 miles west of Chicago. I confirmed it's not a radio antenna or anything like that, as a friend in Aurora, which is another 30 miles west of here, saw it as well, along with another friend in Minnesota.

Any information on what this object was would be greatly appreciated.

Johnny,

That orange object is most likely Mars. And over the next few months, it'll be getting closer to us.

__________________
Clear Skies All!!

You might find this picture interesting.
www.spaceweather.com

Enjoy,
Rich C.

'Do not believe anything, but question only what
is worth questioning' -- George Polya

It was indeed Mars next to the on on July 17th.
I was out watching that night. It appeared to be so close to the Moon that it looked like a moon of the Moon.
Jack Horkemer's stargazer featured that conjunction a couple weeks back.