On June 30, 1908, an H-bomb-sized explosion destroyed millions of trees for dozens of miles around. This is how Tunguska, a remote Siberian region, entered the history books.
Colossal dimensions. The explosion was so wild that there was talk of antimatter in 1965 or even a tiny black hole in 1973. But those are not by far the most “interesting” explanations. There has been talk of UFOs crashing by accident or, attention, of a proof of concept of the famous ““death ray” by Nikola Tesla.
However, the reality is much more prosaic and, today, scientists debate whether it was a small asteroid or the fragment of a comet. Because neither in 1921 (when the first expedition was sent to the place), nor in any of the subsequent expeditions, has anything resembling a crater been found.
what happened. How then do we know that something happened in Tunguska that June morning? Well, because the whole world found out: seismographs throughout Asia and all of Europe captured the explosion; The Greenwich Observatory captured variations in atmospheric pressure due to the amount of air put into circulation; and, to top it all off, the suspended dust made the night in northern Eurasia so bright that it seemed like day.
12 megatons. That is to say, something happened in those uninhabited lands of the Irkutsk Oblast, there is no doubt about that. The most accepted theory is that this small meteorite caused a thermonuclear explosion at about 8 kilometers in altitude and with a power of 12 megatons. Everything after was death and destruction.
Could it be repeated? The short answer is yes. In fact events like of the Eastern Mediterranean, Vitim’s or even that of Chelyabinsk show that it is possible to repeat itself. The long answer is that it is unlikely. Not only because these types of events are already something quite rarebut because (as in all these cases) when they occur, they usually occur in depopulated areas.
It’s not a coincidence. The vast majority of the Earth’s surface is unpopulated. However, we must not let our guard down. years ago, the people of Microsiervos rescued a text of Arthur C. Clarke where I imagined what would happen if Tunguska happened in the heart of Europe:
At 9:46 (Greenwich Mean Time) on the morning of September 11, in the exceptionally beautiful summer of the year 2077, most of the inhabitants of Europe saw a dazzling fiery ball appear in the eastern sky. In a matter of seconds it became brighter than the Sun and as it moved across the sky—at first in complete silence—it left behind an undulating column of dust and smoke.
At some point over Austria it began to disintegrate, producing a series of explosions, so violent that more than a million people were left with their hearing damaged forever. They were the lucky ones.
Moving at fifty kilometers per second, a million tons of rock and metal fell onto the plains of northern Italy and destroyed the work of centuries in a flash of seconds. The cities of Padua and Verona were swept from the face of the Earth; and the last glories of Venice sank forever into the sea when the waters of the Adriatic thundered towards land after that devastating blow from heaven.
The cultural impact. In the story, 600,000 people died, and the material damage was estimated at more than a trillion dollars.. Date with Rama It was published in 1973 and is, evidently, pure fiction. However, the story is suggestive: the capacity of outer space to compromise life on this planet is as certain as the dinosaurs were, 66 million years ago.
That is why every year, on June 30, the Asteroid Day with the intention of raising awareness about this problem and discussing the possibilities we have to protect the Earth. Since this year, in addition, is recognized by the UN. Space is a wonderful place, but, like the nightis also dark and harbors horrors. It doesn’t hurt to remember it, at least once a year.
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