9:45 EST I'm looking West over Lake Ontario and all that's left of the Sun is the orange glow in the Horizon, I observe a very bright object that I would guesstimate at ten miles out that seems multi-colored with illuminated tendrils below....grab the Binoculars (old/inexpensive 10X) focus as best as possible and it seemed  to be golden light with some red and green lights mixed in, and the tendrils reminiscent of metal sparks from a Bench Grinder.

Did not appear to move, although I was, and without any reference point or objects I could not tell if its position changed...watched about 10 minutes and went inside, checked back about 15 minutes later and did not see it. (cloud cover is very possible) looked again about 0430 this morning and could faintly see what I would assume to be warning beacons on a tower, but they were much lower in the horizon, checked a few web sites for current Planet locations and what I saw would correlate with Venus, and if it really does appear as non-circular, multi-colored lights I can understand why it's often reported as a "UAP".
FWIW: I work on an Airfield, Fly, and have a healthy appetite for the anomality's found in the Night Sky....too bad I didn't have a Spotting Scope or Telescope set up, I really would have like to seen a better, stable image.

The multi-colored, shifting quality is likely due to atmospheric conditions, especially near the horizon.  I have seen a single star that appeared to exhibit the same behavior over several nights that I initially mistook for a plane.  This was while flying at night in perfectly clear air with absolutely no light pollution (Eastern Afghanistan) and was fairly high in the sky.

Estimating the distance of a single light in the sky at night is a fool's errand - your eye has exactly zero references to compare it against, and any lights that you can see are likely a few million light years away.  You don't know how bright it ACTUALLY is (as opposed to how much light is getting to you), how large it is, how fast/whether it is moving.  If you can't see a solid shape (and at night, your eyes will tend to perceive solid shapes when there really aren't any) then you are in effect looking at a point source with absolutely no way to determine a distance.  It could be 3 miles away and be a Japanese lantern, it could be 142 million miles away (Venus), or it could be millions of light years away - your vision simply isn't equipped to tell the difference.

Mike

Yes, I completely agree.
I think it was Venus, until I looked through the Binoculars and it sort of looked like a fat Christmas Tree all lit up, then I became unsure....easy to see how it could be mistaken for something else.

 
I do have an astigmatism, but wasn't aware of seeing "trails"...nice to learn something new.

You should download a star/sky app for your phone.  They use gps and you can look at objects like taking a picture with labels on them.  That way you can eliminate some things that you observe.  I know there is one star that is famous for having an effect of changing and undulating or strobing light, but it rises in the east at sunset, so that one wouldn't explain what you saw.

long, long time ago I had it (or a version) but it went the sidelines; might pick it up again.
Cub Scouts have a better knowledge of the constellation's and Planets than I, but I still like to go outside and see what I can see, take a cursory note of the movement of the Planets even if I've no idea which one I looking at....problem here are cloudy/overcast sky's, so even on a "clear" night you can only see a small fraction of what could be seen over the Desert.

I did want to mention that since that sighting, I have not observed anything in that area of the sky starting a good half hour before and after the timeframe I made the observation, and had too many other things going on that to stand there focused on a unknown object that I couldn't see really well.

This is very useful for sorting out stuff like that on the fly,

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sky-guide/id576588894