It
was on this date in 1908 that the biggest impact from a celestial
body in recorded history took place over the remote Tunguska region
of Siberia, Russia.
June
30, 1908 dawned a normal morning in Siberia. Then, just past 7am,
a blinding
fireball as
bright as the Sun came through the sky and exploded. Shock waves
knocked people off their feet and windows were broken hundreds of
miles away. For the next few days, nights as far away as London were
as bright as day. Something extraordinary had happened, but the world
would have to wait almost 20 years for scientists to pick up the case
when Russian Leonid Kulik finally penetrated the vast wilderness in
search of a meteorite crater and/or pieces of the space rock. He came
up empty but found over 1,000 square miles of forest flattened, save
a small area near the center of the region. Thanks to political
instability and then WWII, the world would have to wait almost a
generation for further investigation.
In
the 1950s and 60s, a new generation of scientists entered the
Tunguska forest in search for clues. Recalling damage patterns
brought upon by nuclear weapons testing, the Russians theorized that
the vast devastation was caused not by a meteor or comet impacting
the Earth, but by one exploding above the Earth. Using models with
match sticks on springs standing in for trees and small explosive
charges for the impactor, the scientists determined that the
impacting body, whatever it was, exploded about 5 miles above the
Earth while coming in at an angle of around 30 degrees inclination
from the horizon. The
proof? Scientists were able to recreate the famous butterfly,
complete with standing "trees" right above
the detonation.
As
for what caused the explosion in the first place, there is still
lively debate in the scientific community on the asteroid vs. comet
theories, with both sides having very valid arguments to support
their ideas.
Perhaps the only thing that can be agreed upon is this: Tunguska serves as a stark reminder that the detection of near-Earth objects and the development of technologies to divert them from hitting the Earth should be a very pressing scientific undertaking.
Perhaps the only thing that can be agreed upon is this: Tunguska serves as a stark reminder that the detection of near-Earth objects and the development of technologies to divert them from hitting the Earth should be a very pressing scientific undertaking.