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Airburst

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science2 days ago•13 min saved

The Tunguska Mystery: The 1908 Airburst That Flattened a Forest Without a Crater

In 1908 a space object exploded over Siberia in an airburst, releasing roughly 10–15 megatons of energy and flattening about 80 million trees across 830 square miles, with no crater and a ring of standing trees at the center. Scientists still debate whether it was a stony asteroid or a comet; the asteroid answer fits the ground damage while the comet explanation could account for the eerie skyglow seen across Europe. No fragment has ever been found, and the event helped spur modern planetary defense efforts, including NASA’s DART mission.

via Space Daily|

#airburst #asteroid #comet

science2 days ago•11 min saved

Tunguska 1908: The Sky Burst That Left No Ground Crater

On June 30, 1908, a sky explosion over Tunguska, Siberia leveled about 2,150 square kilometers of forest with an energy around 10–15 megatons, but left no ground crater because the object disintegrated in the atmosphere at roughly 5–10 km altitude; decades later, Leonid Kulik found no meteorite and a radial pattern of downed trees, supporting the airburst explanation and dispelling sensational theories. The object is believed to have been a ~50–60 meter stony asteroid, though Lake Cheko’s proposed crater remains contested. The event reshaped thinking about space hazards and the need to map near-Earth objects, a lesson underscored by the smaller 2013 Chelyabinsk event.

via Space Daily|

#airburst #near-earth-objects #science

archaeology2 years ago•4 min saved

The Truth Behind the Alleged Comet Destruction of Hopewell Culture

Archaeologists and scientists have criticized the claim that a comet caused the downfall of the Native American Hopewell culture 1,500 years ago. Experts argue that there is no evidence supporting the theory of an exploding comet, and that the decline of the Hopewell culture was likely due to other factors. They refute claims of burned villages, meteorites, and an upsurge in mineral concentrations as evidence, stating that these are either ceremonial burnings or natural products of local soil chemistry. The study also criticizes the mixing up of samples and materials by the researchers who proposed the comet theory.

via IFLScience|

#airburst #archaeology #comet

science3 years ago•3 min saved

The Catastrophic Consequences of an Asteroid Collision with Earth.

Scientists have calculated that if the asteroid Ryugu were to hit Earth, it would break up in the atmosphere resulting in an airburst similar to the Chelyabinsk meteor in 2013. Ryugu is considered a rubble-pile asteroid with low mechanical strength, meaning scientists would have to take great care to prevent it from breaking apart if they attempted to divert it. The asteroid's tensile strength is currently unknown, which could impact the size of the pieces that would fall to Earth. The analysis of samples returned by the Hayabusa2 spacecraft will help assess the impact of asteroids like Ryugu on Earth.

via Space.com|

#airburst #asteroid-ryugu #hayabusa2