Can someone please explain what this is?

This evening while driving in East Texas, I noticed what I initially believed to be a star or more likely a planet, lit up in the sky. After about a minute I realized it was much closer than I initially thought and realized the light was changing, at first seeming to be obscured by “clouds” or a veil, even though the sky was clear. Eventually the light got brighter, and all of a sudden seemed to expel something, like smoke or mist of some sort. Then over the next 60 seconds it slowly faded to darkness. It seemed like the other people on the highway were braking to get a better look like myself, and I tried to come up with a logical explanation but the whole thing was very strange. Does anyone have any thoughts about what it could be?