On June 30, 1908, a giant fireball exploded over the forests of Tunguska in Siberia.
The impact leveled hundreds of miles of forest, and the exact cause is a bit of a mystery. At the time of the explosion, it was too difficult to reach this remote part of Siberia to look for clues about what might have happened. But finally in 1927, a scientist named Leonid Kulik led the first research expedition to investigate the scene. However, they didn't find a crater or any meteorite fragments, and the mystery remained unsolved. Scientists now believe either a comet or an asteroid exploded in the atmosphere instead of striking Earth. This created an air burst with shock waves powerful enough to knock down a forest.
The impact leveled hundreds of miles of forest, and the exact cause is a bit of a mystery. At the time of the explosion, it was too difficult to reach this remote part of Siberia to look for clues about what might have happened. But finally in 1927, a scientist named Leonid Kulik led the first research expedition to investigate the scene. However, they didn't find a crater or any meteorite fragments, and the mystery remained unsolved. Scientists now believe either a comet or an asteroid exploded in the atmosphere instead of striking Earth. This created an air burst with shock waves powerful enough to knock down a forest.
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00:00On this day in space.
00:03In 1908, a giant fireball exploded in the skies over the forest of Tunguska in Siberia.
00:09The impact leveled hundreds of miles of forest and the exact cause is a bit of a mystery.
00:14At the time of the explosion, it was too difficult to reach this remote part of Siberia to look for clues about what might have happened.
00:20But finally in 1927, a scientist named Leonid Kulik led the first research expedition to investigate the scene.
00:27However, they didn't find a crater or any meteorite fragments and the mystery remained unsolved.
00:32Scientists now believe either a comet or an asteroid exploded in the atmosphere instead of striking Earth.
00:38This created an airburst with shockwaves powerful enough to knock down a forest.
00:42And that's what happened on this day in space.
00:45Music.