5/7/2023 0 Comments Tunguska meteoroid![]() The Tunguska meteoroid likely entered the atmosphere at speeds of 33,500 miles per hour (539,130 km/h), NASA reports. ![]() Other eyewitnesses reported explosive sounds like artillery fire. (Image credit: Public domain.)Īlthough he was 40 miles (64 km) from the scene of the impact, the man felt so much heat that he thought his shirt was on fire, according to NASA. This hypothesis claims that gas leaking from the crust rose up to the atmosphere, then drifted downward, and was eventually ignited by a source such as lightning, causing the explosion.Flattened trees from the Tunguska event photographed by the Leonid Kulik expedition in 1927. Geophysical Hypothesis of the Tunguska EventĪstrophysicists have developed a theory that the Tunguska event was the result of an explosion of more than 10 million tonnes of natural gas from the crust of the Earth. More expeditions located small silicate and magnetite samples which had traces of nickel, leading to the conclusion that the occurrence was due to an object of extraterrestrial origin. Small holes were also observed on the ground. The affected area had the shape of a large spread-eagled butterfly with wings that had a width of 43 miles and a body that was 34 miles in length. In the 1960s, with aid of improved technology, it was determined that the devasting effect had spread to a vast area of more than 830 square miles. In 1938, an aerial survey was conducted and photographs were taken. Trees located further away were scorched and knocked down in directions leading away from the point of explosion. The team did not find a crater but discovered scorched trees that lacked branches but stood upright. A second expedition occurred in 1927, and Kulik's team, along with help from hunters of the local Evenki population, reached the south end of the explosion site. However, Kulik persuaded the Russian government to finance a larger expedition into the interior of the Tunguska region. Records of Kulik's expedition indicated that the explosion was the result of a large meteorite impact. The official investigation of the Tunguska event did not occur until 1921 and was led by Russian mineralogist Leonid Kulik. It is estimated that the Tunguska event caused shock waves that would be the equivalent of an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.0 on the Richter scale. In the United States, a lower atmospheric transparency caused by suspended dust particles in the atmosphere was observed by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Photographs of the glow were taken as far away as Scotland and Sweden. Glowing light was visible from adjacent areas in the days that followed the explosion. Fireballs and hot airwaves were detected in Denmark, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Croatia. Moments later, a powerful shock wave knocked people down and shattered windows up to hundreds of kilometers away. Roughly ten minutes later, a deafening sound was heard, similar to artillery fire, and moved from the east to the north. The local populations living northwest of Lake Baikal reported that a column of light as bright as the sun moved across the sky. The explosion occurred at approximately 7:17 AM on the morning of June 30, 1908. ![]() The Tunguska event is the largest impact event ever recorded on Earth. The large object is believed to have disintegrated in the atmosphere at between 3 and 6 miles before hitting the Earth, rather than hitting the Earth's surface and creating a crater. Although the occurrence is classified as an impact event, no impact crater has ever been found. The cause of the large explosion is believed to have been caused by the air outburst of a meteoroid. However, no human casualties were reported. The explosion destroyed an estimated 770 square miles of forest cover in the sparsely populated East Siberian taiga region. The Tunguska event was an explosion that occurred near the Podkamennya Tunguska River in Siberia, Russia on June 30, 1908. What Was the Tunguska Event? The Tunguska event was an explosion thought to be caused by a large meteoroid.
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