The almost official story of the Tunguska Event. Here is our Tunguska X FIles Project, Part 1.
We use the words "almost official" because we did not organised an expedition to visit the site and see for ourselves. We found our informations in books and on the Net.
In this project, there is a need to define at least two important words.
1- Meteoroides: are objects coming from space and when they fall into the atmosphere, they will burn or explode before reaching the ground.
2- Meteorites: are similar objects but when they fall down, they are able to reach the ground and create a crater.
It all begins :
In 1908, on June 30th around 7.17 AM, many people saw a big burning object in the sky near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River at coordinates 60°55' N, 101°57' E
After a few expeditions, which we will tell about you later, the general concensus is that it was a mid-air explosion. The amount of libarated energy for that blast is estimated at anywhere from 10-20 megatons of TNT explosives. It could be compared to the US "Castel Bravo" (biggest nuclear explosion)
At the time, it was thought that it was caused by a comet or a meteorite reaching the ground.
People who did organise the first expedition were expecting to find a crater. As far as we know and according to the oldest records, The first serious expedition was launched in 1921,about ten years after the Tunguska event. The leader of that expedition was Leonid Kulik. He was a Russian mineralogist.
Also read : Tunguska: The Story, part 2