Once vehicles, ranch and other artificial lights, fires, stars and mirages are excluded, do any Marfa lights remain unexplained?
Three answers, none aheadNone is ahead yet. See what would settle it.
Where it stands
Three answers have been proposed. None is ahead on the evidence yet. Three are still possible. Of the three narrower questions under it, none is answered yet.
Why it matters
Everyone who has studied the lights agrees that most are ordinary; the dispute is over a rare residue seen in other directions. James Bunnell, who watched with cameras for years, holds that a small fraction are a real unexplained phenomenon[1]; a re-analysis of his best photographs matched every checkable one to vehicles on local roads[2].
Answers 3
What would settle it
- Ask James Bunnell for the station recordings from 2003 onward and catalogue every detection against roads, ranch lights, trains, aircraft and ephemerides, with the rules fixed before the data are seen.
History
- Stephan: reviewing Bunnell's data in 2006, Stephan wrote that headlights and mirages are visible from the site but easy to tell…For: Yes; a small residue is a real unexplained phenomenon
- Ghimire & Stephan: a 20-night instrumented watch in 2008 saw no light that met the criteria for a genuine Marfa light.For: No; all documented lights are ordinary sources
- Bunnell puts forward: yes; a small residue is a real unexplained phenomenon
- Stephan et al.: a 20-night instrumented watch in 2008 saw no light that met the criteria for a genuine Marfa light.For: No; all documented lights are ordinary sources
- Bunnell: after eight years of observation and camera monitoring, Bunnell estimates that three per cent of the lights are…For: Yes; a small residue is a real unexplained phenomenon
- Stephan et al. puts forward: yes; a small residue is a real unexplained phenomenon
- Stephan et al.: an object photographed by two stations on 3 June 2005 shone for over three hours at about 10 kW of visible light, too…Against: No; all documented lights are ordinary sources
- Stephan et al.: an object photographed by two stations on 3 June 2005 shone for over three hours at about 10 kW of visible light, too…For: Yes; a small residue is a real unexplained phenomenon
- Borraz Aymerich & Ballester Olmos puts forward: no; all documented lights are ordinary sources
- Borraz Aymerich & Ballester Olmos: every checkable one of Bunnell's best 2003–2004 photographs of "genuine" lights matches vehicles on local roads 8 to 30 km away.For: No; all documented lights are ordinary sources
- Borraz Aymerich & Ballester Olmos: bunnell's best photographs of "genuine" lights carry errors in their recorded bearings and times, so triangulations…Against: Yes; a small residue is a real unexplained phenomenon
- Borraz Aymerich & Ballester Olmos: after sorting out mirages, distant headlights and ranch-track lights in 1994, Paul Devereux judged from local…For: Yes; a small residue is a real unexplained phenomenon
- Session 1: raised the question, proposed two answers and worked on three of its sub-questions