What caused the Tunguska explosion?
What caused the Tunguska explosion?
In the early morning of June 30, 1908, a massive explosion flattened entire forests in a remote region of Eastern Siberia along the Tunguska River. Khrennikov and co say the explosion was caused by an asteroid that grazed the Earth, entering the atmosphere at a shallow angle and then passing out again into space.
How big was the asteroid that hit Russia?
about 17 meters
“The asteroid was about 17 meters [56 feet] in diameter and weighed approximately 10,000 metric tons [11,000 tons],” Peter Brown, a physics professor at Western University in Ontario, Canada, said in a statement.
How big was the meteor that hit Siberia in 1908?
The exploding meteoroid was determined to have been an asteroid that measured about 17–20 metres (56–66 ft) across. It had an estimated initial mass of 11,000 tonnes and exploded with an energy release of approximately 500 kilotons.
Was the Russian meteor found?
The Chelyabinsk meteorite (Russian: Челябинский метеорит, Chelyabinskii meteorit) is the fragmented remains of the large Chelyabinsk meteor of 15 February 2013 which reached the ground after the meteor’s passage through the atmosphere….Chelyabinsk meteorite.
| Chelyabinsk | |
|---|---|
| Strewn field | Yes |
| Related media on Wikimedia Commons |
How big was Tunguska?
830 square miles
Bottom line: The Tunguska explosion on June 30, 1908, was the largest asteroid impact in recorded history. It flattened 830 square miles (2150 sq km) of Siberian forest.
Is Tunguska in Siberia?
Today, June 30, 2008, is the 100th anniversary of that ferocious impact near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in remote Siberia–and after 100 years, scientists are still talking about it.
How big was asteroid that killed dinosaurs?
Dino-killing asteroid: How big was it? The dimensions of Chicxulub Crater — about 90 miles wide by 12 miles (20 km) deep — give us a rough idea of the impactor’s size. For example, Siraj and Loeb calculated that the incoming object was likely about 4.3 miles (7 km) wide.
Will there be an asteroid in 2021?
More huge asteroids to approach Earth in the coming weeks One of the closest approaches Earth will see will come Friday, when the asteroid WK1 2021, about 64 feet long, will come within 652,000 miles of Earth.
Was Tunguska a nuclear explosion?
1) The Tunguska explosion may have been a thermonuclear explosion in the air after the asteroid entered the atmosphere, and the nuclear explosion may have been triggered by the high temperature and high pressure caused by a rock burst of the asteroid; the rock burst is triggered by the high temperature caused by the …
What is Siberian Tunguska?
Tunguska event, enormous explosion that is estimated to have occurred at 7:14 am plus or minus one minute on June 30, 1908, at an altitude of 5–10 km (15,000–30,000 feet), flattening some 2,000 square km (500,000 acres) and charring more than 100 square km of pine forest near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in central …
How did Tunguska affect Earth?
A mysterious aspect of the Tunguska event was that no crater was ever found. But, even without a crater, scientists still categorized it as an impact event. They now believe the incoming object never struck Earth, but instead exploded in the atmosphere, causing what’s known as an air burst.
How big is the asteroid that’s coming in 2021?
about 64 feet long
More huge asteroids to approach Earth in the coming weeks One of the closest approaches Earth will see will come Friday, when the asteroid WK1 2021, about 64 feet long, will come within 652,000 miles of Earth. Several asteroids bigger than 1994 WR12 also will be approaching the planet, and the biggest will be 1994 PC1.
