Table of Contents
How big was the meteor that hit Siberia?
The researchers estimated that the Tunguska meteor likely measured between 328 and 656 feet (100 and 200 m) in diameter, and hurtled through Earth’s atmosphere at roughly 45,000 mph (72,000 km/h). During its fiery passage, the meteor would lose some of its mass.
Why did the Tunguska event not leave a crater?
At 7:17 a.m. (local Siberia time), at a height of about 28,000 feet, the combination of pressure and heat caused the asteroid to fragment and annihilate itself, producing a fireball and releasing energy equivalent to about 185 Hiroshima bombs. “That is why there is no impact crater,” said Yeomans.
What caused the Tunguska impact?
Tunguska event
| Trees knocked over by the Tunguska blast. Photograph from the Soviet Academy of Science 1927 expedition led by Leonid Kulik. | |
|---|---|
| Date | 30 June 1908 |
| Cause | Probable meteor air burst of small asteroid or comet |
| Outcome | Flattening 2,150 km2 (830 sq mi) of forest Devastation to local plants and animals |
What caused the Tunguska blast?
In the early morning of June 30, 1908, a massive explosion flattened entire forests in a remote region of Eastern Siberia along the Tunguska River. Khrennikov and co say the explosion was caused by an asteroid that grazed the Earth, entering the atmosphere at a shallow angle and then passing out again into space.
How often does a Tunguska event occur?
every 100 to 1,000 years
Using the age of fossil craters of large impacts and historical accounts of small meteors, scientists extrapolated the missing data for medium-sized impacts. Based on such estimates, a Tunguska-like event happens every 100 to 1,000 years.
What happened to the Tunguska event?
A new explanation for a massive blast over a remote Siberian forest in 1908 is even stranger than the mysterious incident itself. Known as the Tunguska event, the blast flattened more than 80 million trees in seconds, over an area spanning nearly 800 square miles (2,000 square kilometers) — but left no crater.
How far away was the Tunguska?
That’s how the Tunguska event felt 40 miles from ground zero. Today, June 30, 2008, is the 100th anniversary of that ferocious impact near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in remote Siberia–and after 100 years, scientists are still talking about it.
How big was the 1908 Tunguska explosion?
…on June 30, 1908 ( see Tunguska event ). The shock wave from that explosion, estimated to be equivalent to 15 megatons of TNT, flattened trees over an area almost 50 km across (about 2,000 square km [500,000 acres]). Witnesses reported that its brightness rivaled that of the Sun.…
Why did the Tunguska blast not start a forest fire?
The radiant energy from such an explosion would be enough to ignite forests, but the subsequent blast wave would quickly overtake the fires and extinguish them. Thus, the Tunguska blast charred the forest but did not produce a sustained fire.