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COLD OPEN DELUXE ✦ Nº 10 / 20
The Explosion That Flattened a Forest the Size of a City
Something detonated over Siberia with the force of a nuclear bomb — and left no crater.
Wikimedia Commons · Не указан в первоисточнике, неизвестен. · Public domain
THE TUNGUSKA EVENT
800 mi²
OF FOREST FLATTENED IN AN INSTANT
A forest knocked flat like matchsticks
On June 30, 1908, an enormous blast leveled roughly 2,000 square kilometers — about 800 square miles — of remote Siberian forest, snapping and flattening an estimated 80 million trees in a radial pattern.
THE BLAST
As powerful as a nuclear bomb
Estimates put the energy at hundreds of times the Hiroshima bomb. People hundreds of miles away were knocked off their feet, felt the heat, and saw the sky glow. Windows shattered far from the epicenter.
Wikimedia Commons · Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of… · CC BY 4.0
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THE MYSTERY
There was no crater. Nothing hit the ground.
For a blast that huge, the missing piece is the impact site: there isn't one. Whatever it was detonated in the air, miles up, leaving flattened forest but no giant hole.
SO WHAT WAS IT?
The leading answer
Most scientists agree on the broad cause.
THE VERDICT
A meteor or comet fragment
THE MECHANISM
It exploded in mid-air ('airburst')
THE RESULT
A shockwave, but no ground impact
THE SIZE
Perhaps only tens of meters across
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THE SCARY PART
If it had arrived hours later, it could have hit a city.
Tunguska was remote, so almost no one died. A rock that size over a populated area — a difference of a few hours of Earth's rotation — could have destroyed a major city.
THE POINT
The sky is not as empty as it looks
Tunguska is the largest impact event in recorded history — and a reminder that Earth still gets hit, sometimes hard, and that watching the sky is not paranoia. It's homework.
Wikimedia Commons · Pablo Carlos Budassi · CC BY 4.0
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THE RECEIPTS · THIS REALLY HAPPENED
Look it up yourself
EVENT
The Tunguska event
DATE
June 30, 1908
WHERE
Remote Siberia, Russia
THE DAMAGE
~800 sq mi of forest flattened; ~80M trees
THE CAUSE
A meteor/comet airburst (no crater)
THE POWER
Estimated hundreds of times the Hiroshima bomb
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DISCUSS
What do you think?
How much should we spend watching the sky for the next one?
Why did an explosion that huge leave no crater?
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