The Mysterious Marfa Lights

What is the central idea of this text?

• The Marfa Lights Festival is an event held every year in honor of the mysterious Marfa lights.

• Mysterious lights near Marfa, Texas have been a cause of curiosity for many years.

• The Marfa lights are soccer-ball sized lights in shades or red, orange, green, blue, white, or yellow.

• Many people have tried to find out what the Marfa lights actually are.

Which detail would NOT be important enough to include in a summary?

• Tourists spend money on food, entertainment, and souvenirs as the annual Marfa Lights Festival.

• The Marfa lights are soccer-ball sized lights that appear in the sky near Marfa, Texas.

• There are many theories about what could cause the Marfa lights.

• The lights have been spotted at different times of the year from dusk to dawn.

Which sentence from the article BEST explains why the Marfa lights remain a mystery?

• "They appear only 10 to 20 times each year, in all seasons and any kind of weather."

• "Sightings occur between dusk and dawn, lasting from a few seconds to several hours."

• "The Marfa lights seem to occur more frequently during the second half of the lunar cycle, between the full moon and the next full moon."

• "With so many conflicting theories about the lights, people complain that there will never be a definitive answer about their origin."

Which detail from the article illustrates that not all of the Marfa lights are caused by headlights from a nearby highway?

• The balls of light remain motionless and pulse on and off, switching from faint to bright.

• Robert Ellison saw the Marfa lights in 1883 while driving cattle before cars were invented.

• The lights are the size of soccer balls in bright colors of red, orange, green, blue, white, or yellow.

• There are too many conflicting theories, so there will never be a definitive answer about their origin.

Paragraph 10 states, "the local population has few complaints about the mysterious lights." Which line from the text best supports this claim?

• "Marfa's economy booms as hotels fill up quickly and tourists spend their money on food, entertainment, and souvenirs."

• "With so many conflicting theories about the lights, people complain that there will never be a definitive answer about their origin."

• Several studies have attempted to find the source of the Marfa lights."

• "There are many theories about what causes the Marfa lights."