Podcast: The Tunkguska Event

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On June 30th, 1908 “something” exploded over the Tunguska region of Siberia, flattening thousands of square kilometres of forest, and unleashing a force that rivaled the most powerful nuclear weapon ever detonated. What was it? What could unleash that kind of destructive energy? And will it happen again?

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“Tunguska Event” shownotes on the Astronomy Cast website.

11 Replies to “Podcast: The Tunkguska Event”

  1. “On June 30th, 1908 “something” exploded over the Tunguska region of Siberia, flattening thousands of square kilometres of forest, and unleashing a force that rivaled the most powerful nuclear weapon ever detonated.”
    Perhaps you know something I don’t, but to my knowledge, NO nuclear weapons had ever been detonated prior to June 30th, 1908.
    Sorry, IVAN3MAN
    Thanks for the episode, this subject never fails to tweak my curiosity.

    1. Wow your pretty dumb, not once was it stated that a nuclear weapon was detonated on that date..hence the “something”. It was in COMPARISON. Back to primary school?

      1. “Wow your pretty dumb” Er.. That should be ‘you’re’.
        Also, if you read my comment, I didn’t state that the ‘something’ was a nuclear weapon. The quoted sentence implies that it was being compared to nuclear detonations ‘ever detonated’.
        That means prior to.

      2. I think it’s ambiguous at best and it’s up to you to figure out what is meant by it. “that had ever detonated” would clearly imply prior things.

  2. I read a story about Nicola Tesla’s “death ray” that leads my curiosity. It is quite interesting.

  3. It’s quite likely that the Tunguska explosion was simply the detonation of a massive quantity of methane gas that had leaked into the atmosphere from a ground ruptured fault. The accumulated cloud of gas was eventually ignited by natural atmospheric charges and the shock wave from the explodion knocked over the forest.

  4. a) “…quite likely that the Tunguska event was simply the detonation of a massive quantity of methane gas …”
    b) “… Nicola Tesla’s “death ray”…”
    c) “… NO nuclear weapons had ever been detonated prior to June 30th, 1908…”
    d) “… nuclear weapons of Earth Origin …”

    So, please clarify !

    1. Warning, crackpot link. “Anti-scientific” is the more appropriate term for those.

      And no, it isn’t even possible (“fission reactor” before the technology was invented and without radioactive trace).

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