Тунгуска

Exactly 100 years ago, on 30 June 1908, there was a tiny explosion1 in the midst of Siberia in the Tunguska region2, felling a couple trees3. So what? Why blame UFOs or black holes for that – tststs…

Okay, seriously: According to the mostly accepted opinion of scientists, it was an asteroid exploding 5–10 km4 above ground – which explains why there’s no big crater; results of a research group last year indicate that a lake a few miles away from the epicenter may be the result of the impact of a fragment.

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Photo: Wikimedia Commons

1. with a power of 10–15 megatons TNT, equivalent to over 1000 Hiroshima atom bombs [↩]
2. accordingly, this post’s title is “Tunguska” in cyrillic letters [↩]
3. 60–80 millions on an area of 2000 km² [↩]
4. the exact numbers vary a little, depending on the source [↩]