A new book appears in the bibliographic constellation of the UAP and related topics. Here it is about what fits within the so-called Anomalous Light Phenomena.
Specifically, it is about the The Marfa Lights, a place in Texas close to the town of Presidio, which is crossed by a highway and in which - as a historical plaque establishes - "they have been denounced for more than a hundred years" and "the first recorded observation of the lights was made by landowner Robert Ellison in 1883, "when - obviously - the highway id not exist.Now, our fellow researchers and scholars, the Engineer Manuel Borraz Aymerich and Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos, have made a detailed study of these lights and their characteristics, and the fruit of it is in their book in English entitled The Marfa Lights.
Here we reproduce the announcement of the book, that V-J Ballester Olmos was very kind to send us.
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BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT
THE MARFA
LIGHTS
Examining
the Photographic Evidence (2003-2007)
By Manuel Borraz
& V.J. Ballester Olmos
(July
2020)
We are pleased to
announce the release of a book dedicated to the scientific analysis of
photographs of the so-called “Marfa Lights,” an allegedly anomalous phenomenon
recurrently observed in Marfa, Texas.
Between
2003 and 2007, seven series of high-quality photographs were taken in the area,
claimed to be genuine examples of close-to-the-ground lights that defy
conventional explanation. They were not a simple subset of examples of MLs, but
the best and most significant photographs ever achieved of the phenomenon.
Over
two years, taking an almost forensic approach, we have analyzed this evidence
and come to firm conclusions that establish the true nature of the lights
beyond any reasonable doubt. We are convinced that the corollary applied to the
images and events discussed can be justifiably extended to the rest of the
Marfa “mystery lights.”
Using
advanced astronomical and geographic software, we have developed a specific
methodology for analyzing this type of photographic evidence, which other
researchers can apply to identify similar images of “mystery lights” from other
parts of the world.
We
are proud of the reaction that scientists from a wide range of disciplines have
had to our work, as the quotations in the attachment show.
This
work is FOTOCAT Report #8 in a series of monographs produced by the FOTOCAT
project. It contains 174 pages, 102 illustrations and 70 references. This
monograph is available free of charge through the following link:
Advanced praise
received from early reviewers
This
research is unique and a major contribution to identifying the causes of the
Marfa lights using models of cars traveling on distant highways and roads from
across the Marfa plateau. It is amazing just how well the models replicate the
'behavior' of nearly, and likely, all of the known observations of this
phenomenon. In the end, car headlights combined with the mirage phenomenon are
all that seem needed to once-and-for-all settle the many disputes about the
origins of the Marfa Lights. Kudos to the investigators for offering this new
and compelling evidence!
Dr. Sten Odenwald, Astronomer, NASA Space Science Education Consortium
An excellent
scientific investigation. The depths of your analyses are remarkable.
Dr.
Robert Wagers, co-author of Mysteries of the Marfa Lights Revealed, USA
A careful and
painstaking investigation. You have done a good job of establishing the main
point - that the Marfa Lights are just vehicle headlights. A job well done!
Dr.
Andrew T. Young, Adjunct Professor of Astronomy, San Diego State University,
USA
The authors have
carried out a very thorough and scrupulous analysis. They managed to
prove that Marfa Lights can be explained in the context of well-known ideas
about the propagation of light emitted by car headlights. The techniques used
by the authors of the book may also be useful for studying the phenomenon of
ball lightning.
Dr.
Anatoly I. Nikitin, Secretary of the International Committee of Ball Lightning,
Member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, Russia
It is a fascinating project; you and
your colleague have obviously put a lot of time and careful thought into it…
your methodology seems sound and I find your report persuasive.
Dr.
Peter A. Sturrock, emeritus Director of the Center for Space Science and
Astrophysics, Stanford University, USA
Great work. Not a
refutation but a full reanalysis. Overwhelming and solid conclusions.
Julio
Plaza del Olmo, physicist and investigator, Spain
You have criticized
the estimations of height using a reasonable qualitative guess (atmospheric
refraction of the image), and for the velocity using a quantitatively better
measure of time (from star image tracks in the observations). I think
that your analysis as far as it goes is good.
Dr.
John Abrahamson, Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, University of
Canterbury, New Zealand.
A work of great
precision and a very useful job.
Dr.
Sergey Chernouss, Polar Geophysical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences,
Russia
The report is
perfectly argued and remarkably carried out. The visual appearance and behavior
of the lights is incoherent with a possible luminous phenomenon of natural
origin and related to electricity or natural magnetism.
Dr. Raymond Piccoli, Director of the Laboratoire de
Recherche sur la Foudre, France
Having plowed the field of anomalous
aerial phenomena for 45 years myself, I would rank this essay among the dozen
or so best documented and most thoroughly researched studies on the subject
ever published. The science is outstanding and the arguments solid.
Wim
van Utrecht, Caelestia Project, Belgium
I fully agree with the methodology you
explained. I consider that this work can be used as an example of scientific
method. I have always considered Marfa lights with no strangeness and without
any interest, and you have made a lot of good work in order to dismiss the way
believers perceive facts.
Dr. Claude Poher, former Space Research Engineer in CNES,
creator of GEPAN in 1977 (SEPRA/GEIPAN), Quantum Gravitation researcher, France
Your book is a
detailed and painstaking work that covers a comprehensive overview of existing
Marfa Lights studies and a thorough research of their origins.
Dr.
Artem S. Bilyk, Assistant Professor, Kiev Polytechnical Institute, Chairman of
SRCAA “Zond”, Ukraine
Somebody could say
“all this work to get there”. I would say YES. It is necessary, because to
believe is easy, to understand is hard work. So, congratulations to the authors for
their hard work. Today, our society is strongly concerned with fake news and
some aversion to science, and any contribution which tries to balance this
attitude is welcome.
Marcel
Delaval, Informatics engineer, Joint Research Center of the European
Commission, Ispra, Italy
When
trying to observe the Lights with the CBS crew for "Unsolved
Mysteries", I did determine that the Lights were incandescent in nature.
Which fits with the "car light" hypothesis, but I really had hoped to
make additional measurements of the Lights spectral signature to match those of
car head lights. I never had the opportunity to do so.
Dr.
Edwin Barker, University of Texas, McDonald Observatory, NASA/JSC Orbital Debris
Program (ret), USA
The authors have tested the simplest
hypothesis, one already postulated by other investigators: the light track
phenomena observed are produced by car lights. In every single event when
geographical verification has been possible, the photographed luminous trails
match with local roads. These findings strongly weaken the hypothesis of
existence of anomalous phenomena close to Marfa, Texas. This book is a great
example of what should be a modern analysis of data on natural phenomena.
Prof.
Vladimir Bychkov, Academician of Russian Academy of Natural Science,
Russia
In this overwhelming work, Borraz and
Ballester Olmos have analyzed some of the strangest Marfa Lights photographs
and concluded that their nature is perfectly compatible with motor vehicle
lights, without the need to invoke any unknown geophysical phenomena. During
their work they mainly used software like Google Earth’s Photo Overlay tool and
the stellar program Stellarium. Multiple hours of analysis and insight have revealed
key errors in photographer’s data. The few existing discrepancies can be
perfectly explained by the usual light refractions at these latitudes, the
study of temperature inversion during the days of the events would confirm
their suspicions to 100 percent. Marfa Lights are not a mystery anymore.
Dr. Félix Ares de Blas, Professor of Technology
and Architecture of Computers, Universidad del País Vasco, co-author of El
fenómeno OVNI. Análisis de 30 años de observaciones en España, Spain
In this book, Manuel Borraz and V.J.
Ballester Olmos present a quite convincing example of what can be a thorough
scientific investigation. They tackle the issue of the famous “Marfa lights”
photographs, and more precisely of the so-called “genuine Marfa lights”, which
represent a selection of the best and most controversial particular pictures.
They choose a quite original and efficient approach, taking advantage in a very
clever way of powerful existing tools available through Internet: Google
Earth and Stellarium. The quality and the accuracy of their rigorous and
neutral analysis of the set of photos deserve my best congratulations.
I
have always had a great respect for works related to real explanations of
strange phenomena observed in the atmosphere and near space. I believe that the
work you have done is very useful and highly commendable.
Dr.
Yulii V. Platov, Pushkov Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere
and Radio Wave Propagation (IZMIRAN), Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia
and Radio Wave Propagation (IZMIRAN), Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia
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