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Far Out Far West Texas
Texas Observer Mythic Texas gives way to Montana chic by Joe Nick Patoski
A bad way to show good art
Houston Chronicle The Flavin is a vertical light sculpture of blue, pink and yellow fluorescent bulbs. It's intended to lean at a precise angle against a corner and effectively "paint" the air and walls around it with its rainbow glow. Instead of placing it in an actual corner, the organizers chose to build a faux corner in the middle of the room. Its power supply is from a long — unnecessarily long — orange extension cord plugged into a ceiling outlet, allowed to free-fall messily and snake across the floor...
An Experimental Analysis of the Marfa Lights
Brand new study by the physics department of the University of Texas at Dallas finds that the lights are simply headlights in the distance. Haven't we been here before? But this time, the students have a "chase car" with radio communication to the students at the observation point. Read the study in PDF format here.
Texas Observer Mythic Texas gives way to Montana chic by Joe Nick Patoski
A bad way to show good art
Houston Chronicle The Flavin is a vertical light sculpture of blue, pink and yellow fluorescent bulbs. It's intended to lean at a precise angle against a corner and effectively "paint" the air and walls around it with its rainbow glow. Instead of placing it in an actual corner, the organizers chose to build a faux corner in the middle of the room. Its power supply is from a long — unnecessarily long — orange extension cord plugged into a ceiling outlet, allowed to free-fall messily and snake across the floor...
An Experimental Analysis of the Marfa Lights
Brand new study by the physics department of the University of Texas at Dallas finds that the lights are simply headlights in the distance. Haven't we been here before? But this time, the students have a "chase car" with radio communication to the students at the observation point. Read the study in PDF format here.
posted by Mark permanent link
1 Comments:
The UTD physics students did an admirable job, but they skip over the obvious question (no, it's not the no-cars-in-1880 retort)- as most researchers do.
There are thousands of roads descending mountain slopes, like Hwy 67 does along the north face of the Chinatis. Some, in the Chisos, Glass, and even the Rocky Mts. are nearby. No one ever confuses car lights anywhere else. Why is it only near Marfa that "car lights" behave strangely?
The answer lies in studying the daytime aerial photos, not the nighttime phenomena, as 99.99% of the researchers do. The north slope of the Chinatis is capped with white, reflective volcanic soil (USDA Boludo Series) that distorts car lights the way an amusement park mirror does your figure.
As to the no-cars-in-1880s argument, the original descriptions read nothing like what we see today - that all started after Hwy 67 was constructed in 1930.
One educational group is so convinced that it even includes the Marfa Light-reflection model in its JHS/HS module on optics, called "Guiding Light," which is already used in several states.
I'd hate to see JHS/HS students sit the "experts" down and explain to them how simple it all is.
Like magic tricks explained however, it takes all the fun out.
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