Tunguska

Tunguska refers to a region in central Siberia, Russia, named after the Tunguska (Evenki) people and the Tunguska and Podkamennaya Tunguska rivers. The area is part of Krasnoyarsk Krai and is characterized by taiga and sparsely populated landscapes. The name has become widely associated with a major seismic-like event that occurred in 1908.

The Tunguska event occurred on the morning of June 30, 1908 (Julian calendar; July 13 in the Gregorian calendar) when a massive explosion took place in the atmosphere above the Tunguska region. The leading scientific consensus is that an extraterrestrial object, most likely a fragmenting asteroid or comet, exploded at an altitude of several kilometers, producing an airburst rather than a ground impact. The energy released is estimated in the range of 3 to 40 megatons of TNT, with commonly cited values around 10 to 15 megatons.

The explosion flattened an estimated 2,000 square kilometers of forest, leaving a characteristic pattern of trees felled in a radial and linear manner due to the shock wave. No sizable impact crater was found, and no meteorite fragment of significant size has been definitively recovered. Reports of a bright fireball and daylight sky observations were widespread, with sightings across Europe and Asia.

Scientific interest began to coalesce in the early 20th century, notably with expeditions led by Leonid Kulik beginning in 1938. The event has since become a benchmark case in planetary defense studies, illustrating the potential hazard posed by near-Earth objects and the phenomenon of airbursts. The exact details of the object’s composition and trajectory remain a subject of research and discussion.