The world was shocked in 1908 when an incident occurred that has never been explained. Through the years, researchers have come up with theories to explain what exactly happened on that tragic day in central Siberia, as well as to discover its long-lasting effects.
Just after 7 a.m. on June 30, 1908, people in the area of the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in central Siberia, Russia, reported seeing a bright cylindrical object zip through the sky. Witnesses said it suddenly looked like the sky split in two, followed by a flash of light brighter than the sun.
Others told stories of getting jolted back in their rocking chairs by the force of the blast. Roofs were blown off, some buildings were destroyed, and millions of windows were blown out of structures located several miles away. Thousands of people were injured and hundreds of reindeer were killed but, amazingly, due to the blast's remote location, only three people died.
However, for nearly two decades, due to the tense political climate in Russia at the time, nobody was able to go to the site of the blast and research what happened. When scientists did make their way to the site in the 1920s, they noticed no crater or fragments of a comet. They did find an area of over 500,000 acres with millions of trees knocked down.
One observation was that the forest regrew unusually fast after the blast. Some scientists conjectured that trace elements from an asteroid might have stimulated the regrowth. Researchers also noted genetic changes to plants, insects, animals, rocks, and soil in the area.
Scientists around the world have come to the conclusion that the Tunguska event occurred when a giant asteroid fell into the earth's atmosphere and then disintegrated before it struck the surface. Most experts agree that a similar event could happen in the future, but an asteroid collision of that magnitude only takes place about once every 1,000 years.
By studying the effects of the event, scientists can now be more prepared for a similar event in the future.