Tunguska is a sparsely populated region of forests and swamps in central Siberia. On June 30, 1908, Tunguska was the scene of one of the most powerful explosions on Earth, an explosion whose cause remains a mystery.On that morning of 1908, a flash of fire illuminated the skies of Tunguska. A pillar of smoke was observed 400 kilometers away, and the roar of the explosion was heard 800 kilometers away. Even in Europe, the sky lit up at night thanks to the dust thrown into the atmosphere by the Tunguska explosion.
Many years passed before Russian scientists went to study the Tunguska region. In 1927, a Russian expedition made preparations to visit this remote region. Although 19 years had passed since the explosion, the signs of its tremendous strength still remained in a vast area.
Around the center of the affected area, the trees were fallen to the ground as if they had been cut down by the explosion. Many trees were burned to the ground. An area of more than 2,500 square kilometers had been devastated by the explosion, so scientists believe that the destructive force was equal to about 30 million tons of TNT.
Russian scientists first believed that the explosion at Tunguska had been caused by a huge meteorite that exploded into the Earth's atmosphere. But the first Russian expedition, and three that followed, presented no evidence that a meteorite had caused the explosion.
So what caused this powerful explosion? Most scientists now believe that it was caused by a small comet that hit the Earth, even though no comet had been observed in the sky around the time of the explosion. However, other scientists have suggested that the explosion could have been caused by a UFO explosion!
One thing is certain, both the site and the explosion are themselves a mystery. Although the explosion felled thousands of trees, killed countless reindeer and other animals, and destroyed some houses, it did not result in a single human death!
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