The Tunguska Event

Ninety years later, the Tunguska explosion in Siberia in 1908 remains one of the most intriguing natural disasters in modern history. On June 30 of that year, a blinding fireball fell from the sky, destroying an area half the size of the American island of Rhode Island. Trees were felled for miles around, the fire burned for weeks, and the sound of the impact was heard far away. It is estimated that the force of the explosion was equivalent to 2,000 atomic bombs similar to the one dropped on Hiroshima.

It's still unknown what struck Tunguska that fateful day. For many years, scientists believed a meteorite likely exploded over the Siberian forest; today, many believe it may have been a comet. This theory was changed because no meteorite fragments were found in the area.

There was little evidence to determine what happened that day. This lack of hard evidence has given rise to wild speculation: a UFO collided with a nuclear reactor, or a powerful electrical weapon developed by Nikola Tesla was deliberately or accidentally aimed at the area from somewhere on Earth.

In recent years, the Tunguska event has attracted attention as we learn more and more about the danger of an object from space hitting Earth.