UFO/skytracker: classic misidentification case

Extract fom the MUFON CMS:

I was on the phone and walked outside when I noticed a blueish ring of light in the clouds.
On further inspection it was clear that the ring had equally spaced balls of blue light. After getting a few photos and for a minute or so the objects and the ring increased luminosity substantially. That did not last very long and after 20 minutes total It had faded away and I went back inside.

About 10 minutes later my father told me that it was back. I went outside and observed the same ringlike formation and more glowing spots in the clouds much higher than the initial ring.
Within a minute or so another ring much higher above it had formed. This ring appeared to be made up of 6 separate balls of light which seemed to be moving slowly and steadily in altitude and direction formed a semi circle. then 3 lights moved more east and the other 3 went west creating a gap and their positions appeared in tandem forming a ( ) pattern.

All this time the original ring had reappeared and over the next few hours would dim out then randomly gain luminosity. Sometimes there would be no change and appear to "hover" for up to 20 minutes before dimming or changing into unidentifiable formations.
During form changes the light was too dim to effectively be caught on my camera. I walked a few blocks to get a better view and after a couple hours the objects seemed to form a pattern resembling a parachute with beams that went below my sight due to tree cover. All colors were either blue or blue with a hint of white. The beams of light appeared to be gathered at a central ground point. This lasted about 10 minutes.

It was submitted on the MUFON CMS the 2012-03-26 and occurred the 2012-03-25 above Chaska, MN.

Please, read the full testimony on MUFON CMS

There are three hi-res photos with this testimony:







Enhanced version of the first picture:



Now, everything in the description and the visual makes think of a skytracker reflection on the low clouds, however shouldn't we see the searchlights that produce the cloud reflection below it, especially in the weather conditions such as described by the witness?





The answer is given by the witness himself:

"During form changes the light was too dim to effectively be caught on my camera..." "My camera was insufficient to reliable capture anything other than when formed in a ring as any other activities reduced their illumination below the capability of my camera"
Meaning that the light of the searchlights wasn't enough bright to impress the CCD sensor and also that probably the exposure time wasn't properly set to get them. (1/8 and ISO 1600)

Hope it will serve as future reference for misidentification!

Very cool, we need threads like this to reduce our ignorance!

If all humans were aware of this and other rare but natural phenomena, we wouldn't have to wade through tons of identified sightings to find the unknowns.