# Stephan 2011: Quantitative intensity and location measurements of an intense long-duration luminous object near Marfa, Texas > Karl D. Stephan, James Bunnell, John Klier et al., 2011. 22 records on Mysteries Department cite it. Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics… Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DCKDTYXS3ZM/quantitative-intensity-and-location-measurements-of-an Publisher: Mysteries Department Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page) --- [Sources](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources)[Marfa lights](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/marfa-lights)Stephan 2011 **0** # Quantitative intensity and location measurements of an intense long-duration luminous object near Marfa, Texas Karl D. Stephan, James Bunnell, John Klier et al., 2011. _Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics 73(13), 1953–1958_. On the night of 2–3 June 2005, during intense thunderstorms, Bunnell's two unattended stations on Mitchell Flat ("Roofus" and "Snoopy") photographed an extremely bright luminous object that shone for over three hours. Lightning strokes in the national detection network match its origin in time and place; triangulation puts it on the ground about 28 km from the farther station, and photometry gives a peak of about 10 kW of visible light. The authors judge an artificial lamp unreasonable and a power-line arc less likely than not, and find a vortex-fireball model consistent with the data. **Marfa lightsSecondary source** ArticleCopy of **[Monitoring-station recordings of the bright object, 3 June 2005](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/marfa-lights/artifacts/ART0DCKJYFTFMAN/monitoring-station-recordings-of-the-bright-object-3-june)** doi: **[10.1016/j.jastp.2011.06.002](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jastp.2011.06.002)** Checked against the original0 ## What it's used for here Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics 73(13), 1953–1958: triangulation and photometry of a light that shone for over three hours during a thunderstorm on 3 June 2005; read in the accepted manuscript at https://www.ceticismoaberto.com/research/fotocat/marfa.pdf. ## Cited by on this site 22 records [A natural object triggered by lightning](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/marfa-lights/answers/ANS0DCKMRZDZTWJ/a-natural-object-triggered-by-lightning) Answer ANS [A power-line arc](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/marfa-lights/answers/ANS0DCKMRK7NP3H/a-power-line-arc) Answer ANS [Burning gas, possibly in a vortex](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/marfa-lights/answers/ANS0DCKMYCHBTA4/burning-gas-possibly-in-a-vortex) Answer ANS [Yes; a small residue is a real unexplained phenomenon](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/marfa-lights/answers/ANS0DCKMEWPX5QP/yes-a-small-residue-is-a-real-unexplained-phenomenon) Answer ANS [Monitoring-station recordings of the bright object, 3 June 2005](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/marfa-lights/artifacts/ART0DCKJYFTFMAN/monitoring-station-recordings-of-the-bright-object-3-june) ART [Monitoring-station recordings of the bright object, 3 June 2005: frames in the published paper](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/marfa-lights/copies/CPY0DCNZDWQRRYD/monitoring-station-recordings-of-the-bright-object-3-june) CPY [Bunnell monitoring-station video, Mitchell Flat, 2003 onward](https://mysteriesdept.com/datasets/DAT0DCKJJQ1BFBX/bunnell-monitoring-station-video-mitchell-flat-2003-onward) Dataset DAT [Lightning strokes near Mitchell Flat, 3 June 2005 (National Lightning Detection Network extract)](https://mysteriesdept.com/datasets/DAT0DCKJKFXVYEB/lightning-strokes-near-mitchell-flat-3-june-2005-national) Dataset DAT [An above-ground 14.4 kV distribution line crosses the object's 3-sigma error ellipse about 500 m from a ranch house…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/marfa-lights/evidence/EVD0DCKPYDZ97BM/an-above-ground-14-4-kv-distribution-line-crosses-the) Evidence EVD [An arc lasting over three hours would have to dissipate on the order of 140 kW through a bush or patch of ground…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/marfa-lights/evidence/EVD0DCKPZ00RG56/an-arc-lasting-over-three-hours-would-have-to-dissipate-on) Evidence EVD [An object photographed by two stations on 3 June 2005 shone for over three hours at about 10 kW of visible light, too…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/marfa-lights/evidence/EVD0DCKP8TPDB8G/an-object-photographed-by-two-stations-on-3-june-2005-shone) Evidence EVD [An object photographed by two stations on 3 June 2005 shone for over three hours at about 10 kW of visible light, too…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/marfa-lights/evidence/EVD0DCKP8G5NX3B/an-object-photographed-by-two-stations-on-3-june-2005-shone) Evidence EVD [Coleman's vortex-fireball theory, which lets outside fuel feed a fireball and lets it drift, fits the 2005 object's…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/marfa-lights/evidence/EVD0DCKQ42433BM/colemans-vortex-fireball-theory-which-lets-outside-fuel-feed) Evidence EVD [Lightning strokes in the National Lightning Detection Network match the object's origin in time and place, and a flash…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/marfa-lights/evidence/EVD0DCKPZP2Q68F/lightning-strokes-in-the-national-lightning-detection) Evidence EVD [The bright object of 3 June 2005, triangulated from two stations, lay on the ground about 28 km from the farther one.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/marfa-lights/evidence/EVD0DCKQCW92PJY/the-bright-object-of-3-june-2005-triangulated-from-two) Evidence EVD [James Bunnell's unattended camera stations begin recording on Mitchell Flat](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/marfa-lights/events/EVT0DCKHWSQHHRY/james-bunnells-unattended-camera-stations-begin-recording-on) EVT [Two monitoring stations record a light shining for over three hours during a thunderstorm](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/marfa-lights/events/EVT0DCKHY2N9775/two-monitoring-stations-record-a-light-shining-for-over) EVT [James Bunnell](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/marfa-lights/people/FIG0DCKGN99621J/james-bunnell) FIG [Karl D. Stephan](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/marfa-lights/people/FIG0DCKGNQJE2X1/karl-d-stephan) FIG [The Marfa lights](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/marfa-lights) The mystery article MYS [Mitchell Flat, Presidio County](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/marfa-lights/places/PLC0DCKG0VNQXM7/mitchell-flat-presidio-county) PLC [What was the bright object recorded by two monitoring stations on Mitchell Flat on 3 June 2005?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/marfa-lights/questions/QST0DCKKQPF2NRJ/what-was-the-bright-object-recorded-by-two-monitoring) Question QST ## Cite it ``` Stephan, K. D., Bunnell, J., Klier, J., & Komala-Noor, L. (2011). Quantitative intensity and location measurements of an intense long-duration luminous object near Marfa, Texas. Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics 73(13), 1953–1958. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jastp.2011.06.002 ``` [Read it free at doi.org](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jastp.2011.06.002) Key **SRC** 0DCKDTYXS3ZM Kind Journal article Rights The publisher's Kept 28 Oct 2026, for editors Checked Against the published article Added by [apollo](https://mysteriesdept.com/u/apollo) The record Bibliographic records are CC0. Take this one as CSL-JSON, BibTeX or RIS. [CSL-JSON](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DCKDTYXS3ZM/quantitative-intensity-and-location-measurements-of-an/csl.json)