Tunguska Event (1908)

The Tunguska event was a large explosion of between 3 and 50 megatons TNT equivalent that occurred near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in Yeniseysk Governorate (now Krasnoyarsk Krai), Russia, on the morning of 30 June [O.S. 17 June] 1908. The explosion over the sparsely populated East Siberian taiga felled a large number of trees, over an area of 2,150 km2 (830 sq mi) of forest, and eyewitness accounts suggest up to three people may have died.

The explosion is attributed to a meteor air burst, the atmospheric explosion of a stony asteroid about 50–60 m (160–200 ft) wide. The asteroid approached from the east-south-east, probably with a relatively high speed of about 27 km/s; 98,004 km/h (Mach 80). Though the incident is classified as an impact event, the object is thought to have exploded at an altitude of 5–10 km (3–6 mi) rather than hitting the Earth's surface, leaving no impact crater. The Tunguska event is the largest impact event on Earth in recorded history, though much larger impacts are believed to have occurred in prehistoric times, including the Chicxulub impact that ended the Cretaceous period.

Source Title

Wikipedia: Tunguska event

Source URL

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunguska_event

Source Notes

Imported from Wikipedia REST, MediaWiki, and Wikidata sources on 2026-07-06. Review article citations and edit details before saving.

1. Occurred Jun 30, 1908 12:00 AM UTC
2. Submitted Jul 6, 2026 1:14 AM Historical Archive created
3. Approved Jul 6, 2026 1:14 AM Moderator reviewed
4. Media Uploaded Jul 6, 2026 1:14 AM 1 media file