What is marfa lights

Marfa Lights, Armando Vasquez, Texas. Vasquez petitioned the Marfa Chamber of Commerce to help promote the phenomenon for years to no avail. Then in , they finally organised the inaugural Marfa Lights Festival. Thirty-two years later, the annual festival is still held each September, and it now attracts thousands of spectators.

Mysteries make life interesting. To the Ends of the Earth Remote Places. Share using Email. For more than years, people have reported strange lights above the horizon in Marfa, Texas. This optical illusion, sometimes called a superior mirage or a "Fata Morgana," according to Skeptoid.

A Fata Morgana is sometimes seen in the ocean, causing a ship to appear to float above the horizon. The temperature gradients needed to produce this optical effect are common in the West Texas desert.

Still others speculate the Marfa Lights may be caused by the same gases that create the glowing lights associated with swamp gas: phosphine PH3 and methane CH4. Under certain conditions, these gases can ignite when they contact oxygen.

This glowing phenomenon, sometimes called "will-o'-the-wisp," "ignes fatui" or "fool's fire," has been observed around the world, especially in marshy areas where the decay of organic matter can create pockets of phosphine and methane. Accounts of the strange spectacle just east of Marfa began during the 19th century and continue to this day.

Ranchers, Native Americans, high school sweethearts and famous meteorologists alike have reported seeing seemingly sourceless lights dance on the horizon southeast of town, an area that is nearly uninhabited and extremely difficult to traverse. How to see the Marfa Lights. Jacqueline Kehoe is a writer, photographer, and geology geek. See her work on Instagram at j. Make Fun. Thrillist Serves. Enter your email address Subscribe.