Tunguska event

Tunguska event
Trees blown down and burned by the blast
Date30 June 1908; 116 years ago (1908-06-30)
Time07:17
LocationPodkamennaya Tunguska River, Yeniseysk Governorate, Russian Empire
Coordinates60°54′11″N 101°54′35″E / 60.90306°N 101.90972°E / 60.90306; 101.90972[1]
CauseProbable meteor air burst of small asteroid or comet
OutcomeFlattened 2,150 km2 (830 sq mi) of forest
Devastation to local plants and animals
DeathsUp to 3 possible[2]
Property damageA few damaged buildings

The Tunguska event was a large explosion of between 3 and 50 megatons[2] that occurred near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in Yeniseysk Governorate (now Krasnoyarsk Krai), Russia, on the morning of 30 June 1908.[1][3] The explosion over the sparsely populated East Siberian taiga flattened an estimated 80 million trees over an area of 2,150 km2 (830 sq mi) of forest, and eyewitness accounts suggest up to three people may have died.[2][4][5][6][7] The explosion is generally attributed to a meteor air burst, the atmospheric explosion of a stony asteroid about 50–60 metres (160–200 feet) wide.[2][8]: p. 178  The asteroid approached from the east-south-east, probably with a relatively high speed of about 27 km/s (60,000 mph) (~Ma 80).[2] Though the incident is classified as an impact event, the object is thought to have exploded at an altitude of 5 to 10 kilometres (3 to 6 miles) rather than hitting the Earth's surface, leaving no impact crater.[9]

The Tunguska event is the largest impact event on Earth in recorded history, though much larger impacts occurred in prehistoric times. An explosion of this magnitude would be capable of destroying a large metropolitan area.[10] The event has been depicted in numerous works of fiction. The equivalent Torino scale rating for the impactor is 8: a certain collision with local destruction.

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Farinella-2001 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b c d e Jenniskens, P (2019). "Tunguska eyewitness accounts, injuries and casualties". Icarus. 327: 4–18. Bibcode:2019Icar..327....4J. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2019.01.001. S2CID 127618395.
  3. ^ Trayner, C (1994). "Perplexities of the Tunguska meteorite". The Observatory. 114: 227–231. Bibcode:1994Obs...114..227T.
  4. ^ Gritzner, C (1997). "Human Casualties in Impact Events". WGN. 25: 222. Bibcode:1997JIMO...25..222G.
  5. ^ Jay, Paul. "The Tunguska event". CBC News. Archived from the original on 1 March 2021. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  6. ^ Coppins, Philip. "The Tunguska explosion: an unexpected loud bang and explosion". philipcoppins.com. Archived from the original on 14 December 2017. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
  7. ^ "Reported Deaths and Injuries from Meteorite Impact". delong.typepad.com. Archived from the original on 24 February 2021. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
  8. ^ de Pater, Imke; Lissauer, Jack (2001). Planetary Sciences. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521482194.
  9. ^ Nemiroff, R.; Bonnell, J., eds. (14 November 2007). "Tunguska: The Largest Recent Impact Event". Astronomy Picture of the Day. NASA. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
  10. ^ Longo, Giuseppe (2007). "18: The Tunguska event" (PDF). In Bobrowsky, Peter T.; Rickman, Hans (eds.). Comet/Asteroid Impacts and Human Society, An Interdisciplinary Approach. Berlin; Heidelberg; New York: Springer-Verlag. pp. 303–330. Bibcode:2007caih.book.....B. ISBN 978-3-540-32709-7. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 October 2013.