The Discovery of the Century!Įvery 3-5 years new publications appear that “fully unravel the riddle of the Tunguska meteorite.” Today they talk about a possible explosion of a comet. On 30 June 1908, a powerful blast ripped open the sky. The most plausible hypothesis is that the explosion was of meteorite nature or that it was a comet. Fragments of rock retrieved from a remote corner of Siberia could help to settle an enduring mystery: the cause of the Tunguska explosion. There were hypotheses that an explosion was a result of development by Russians of new weapons, or a consequence of the emergence of antimatter in the world and many others. Absence of any meteorite fragments at the crash scene allowed creatingmany different theories that considered the explosion a handiwork of aliens. Let’s start with the most fantastic ones. The expedition found no fragments of the meteorite! Theories of the Origin of the Tunguska Meteorite in Siberia It was then when the first Russian expedition went to explore the crash site.Ī delay of two decades was a direct consequence of the historical processes that shook Russia and the whole world at the beginning of the 20 th century. The article also provides a detailed description of the event. Such massive explosion for more than a decade reduced the average temperature on the Earth! Beginning of the Researchįirst attempts to find out what was the reason for such a powerful explosion were made in 1927. This article provides a brief chronology of a centuryold study of the Tunguska meteorite. The sound of the explosion was heard as far as 800 kilometers from the point of explosion. The site of Fridays spectacular 10-ton meteor blast is roughly 3,000 miles west of Tunguska, which in 1908 was the site of the largest recorded explosion of a space object plunging to Earth. Photo by the expedition of Kulik in the explosion area This air blast was so powerful that it circled the globe.įorest fall. As far as 50 kilometers from the explosion people were knocked down off their feet by the explosive blast. The explosion was so strong that, according to the calculations of scientists, its power was equivalent to 2000 atomic bombs, which the Americans used in 1945 to destroy a large Japanese city of Hiroshima. The Strength and the Consequences of the Explosion The explosion occurred near the same river, which gave its name to the meteorite. In June of 1908 in the early morning the residents of sparse villages in Siberia observed an object flying in the sky which fell with a deafening explosion. A small asteroid, designated 2009 DD45, passed the Earth at a distance of 46,000 miles, a near miss in terms of cosmic distances. This 'gift of Tunguska' can be considered as a partly compensation to Tunguska researchers for their work. Tunguska meteorite that created an explosion of unprecedented force over Siberia, did not leave any traces on the ground. A Tunguska meteorite compensation While failing to find any substance of 'Tunguska meteorite', at least one Tunguska researcher was able to capture something else, also rather attractive.

Tungusta meteorite