The largest asteroid impact observable and recorded by humans occurred on 30.06.1908 in Siberia. We celebrate the anniversary of this event, also known as the Tunguska Event, on June 30, as 'Asteroid Day'.

Although no crater was formed after the event, it is considered as an impact. The asteroid, which exploded 5-24 km above the Earth's surface, is thought to be 50-190 meters in size. It is observed that 3-30 megatons of energy were released after the Tunguska event. Moreover, although it does not even hit the ground, it is thought to cause earthquakes with a magnitude of 5. So if the Tunguska Incident happened on a city, it could wipe the city off the map.

But the good news is that when the Tunguska Incident occurred, very few people lived in the area. Therefore, great destruction did not occur. Numerous trees were knocked down in the area and radiation burns occurred on other trees.

The people of the region believed about the Tunguska Incident as Ogda, the god of fire and thunder, cursed the region. Therefore, they refrained from informing the leader of the Soviet team who reached the area in 1927.

As a result of the researches, a damage like a butterfly was detected in an area of ​​2150 km in the region. The wingspan of the butterfly is 70 km and the body length is around 55 km. The researches continued after that, and many holes were found in these researches with a size of 10-50 meters. Although these holes are thought to be asteroid formations, it is a matter of debate whether they actually formed asteroids.

The region where the Tunguska Incident took place was shot from the sky in 1938. The 1,500 negative photos taken were destroyed in 1975 by Yevgeny Krinov, Chairman of the Meteorite Committee of the Soviet Union Academy of Sciences, as part of an effort to destroy flammable nitrate films. Positives produced from negatives are stored in Tomsk, Russia.

The Tunguska Incident continued to preserve its mystery with many claims about it for years. But in 1958, a survey of the region found small amounts of silicate and magnetite residues in the soil. As a result of the analysis, it was determined that the residues contained high levels of nickel. Therefore, it was determined that these remains belonged to a meteorite. Years later, as a result of the research carried out in the region in 2013, it was determined that the rock fragments found in the region belonged to the meteor.

 

This Tunguska Event, the cause of which is still unclear and still a mystery, is the largest cosmic explosion ever witnessed by humans. Such a major event is estimated to occur once every 300 years.

Claims such as comet and ice mass were made about the Tunguska event. Although the reason is still unknown, it caused the destruction of millions of trees and the destruction of animals. But the most serious is the detection that the Earth's magnetic field has changed.

*Besides, trees still do not grow in the region today.