Tunguska — the explosion of 30 June 1908

OVERVIEW

The Tunguska event was the explosion, on the morning of 30 June 1908, of between 3 and 50 megatons TNT equivalent near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in what is now Krasnoyarsk Krai. It was the largest impact event on Earth in recorded history. It is attributed to the air burst of a stony asteroid about 50–60 m across that exploded 5–10 km up rather than striking the ground, so it left no crater.

HISTORY

Evenki people and Russian settlers in the hills northwest of Lake Baikal saw a bluish light, nearly as bright as the Sun, cross the sky, then a flash, a billowing cloud and a pillar of fire; about ten minutes later came a sound like artillery. The blast felled trees across about 2,150 km² of sparsely populated taiga. Eyewitness accounts suggest up to three people may have died.

REPORTED ACTIVITY

The event has been depicted in numerous works of fiction; the accepted explanation is the meteor air burst. An explosion of its size would be capable of destroying a large metropolitan area.

VISITING

The site lies in remote taiga near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River.