| Early on the morning of June 30, 1908, a tremendous | | | | approached from a direction with a very small angular |
| explosion rocked the Tunguska region of Central | | | | distance from the sun, rendering it invisible. Given an |
| Siberia. Hundreds of square miles of forest were | | | | early morning time of impact, the comet would then |
| completely flattened, a huge fireball rose into the | | | | have approached from the east with the tail |
| sky, and a large black cloud appeared above the | | | | streaming ahead of the nucleus (away from the sun) |
| region. A shock wave circled the globe twice, and | | | | towards the west which may account for the |
| strange, glowing skies ere evident throughout Europe | | | | glowing night skies seen over Europe and Western |
| and Asia for days after the event. | | | | Asia after the explosion. |
| Since the event occurred, several theories relating to | | | | The proponents of the extraterrestrial spacecraft |
| its origin have been presented. Some feel that the | | | | theory dispute the comet theory for several reasons. |
| explosion was the result of a meteor impact, while | | | | First of all, several eyewitnesses claim to have seen |
| others feel that a comet was responsible for the | | | | the object approaching from the southwest, veer |
| devastation. Still others feel that because of the | | | | towards the east, then back toward the west |
| observed trajectory of the incoming object, it may | | | | before exploding. Also, the object appeared to slow |
| have been an extraterrestrial spacecraft of some | | | | down just prior to the blast. The blast pattern itself |
| type. | | | | appeared to be irregular, suggesting that the |
| Years later, when the first research team finally | | | | explosion occurred inside some type of restrictive |
| reached ground zero, they observed no crater, and | | | | shell. Other evidence suggests the possibility that the |
| could not locate any meteor debris, so the meteor | | | | blast was nuclear in nature, thus accounting for the |
| theory was dismissed (by most), and the comet | | | | increase radioactivity levels reported in the region and |
| theory became popular. A comet, composed mostly | | | | accelerated plant growth in the years following the |
| of ice and dust, would explode upon entering the | | | | explosion. |
| earth's atmosphere, creating an airburst similar to that | | | | At best, proof of the source of the Tunguska |
| observed in this case. The conversion of the kinetic | | | | explosion is far from definitive. Unfortunately, the |
| energy of the incoming comet to heat would result in | | | | region is not easily accessible, and is not a pleasant |
| a blast of tremendous proportions. | | | | environment to work in, so it is unlikely that we will |
| The question is: Why wasn't the comet seen as it | | | | ever know for sure what precisely happened. |
| approached the earth? A comet that close to the | | | | Expeditions are planned to probe some of the lakes |
| sun exhibits a glowing nucleus and extensive tail, | | | | and bogs near ground zero for meteoric evidence, |
| making it easily visible to the naked eye. If the | | | | but for now, speculation continues. |
| object was indeed a comet, it must have | | | | |