# The Tunguska Event **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 26, 1999, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tunguska-event/2883 "1999-08-26T22:15:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 1999, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tunguska-event/2883/1 "1999-08-26T22:15:00Z")
I always thought it was pretty much decided that the event was an asteroid slamming into earth. But then I found this web page The Tunguska Event [http://www.tmeg.com/artifacts/tunguska/tunguska.htm](http://www.tmeg.com/artifacts/tunguska/tunguska.htm) Anitmatter just sounds so much cooler (Fixed url codes - Nick) [Note: This message has been edited by Nickrz] ---
**Author:** ![pluto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f08c70/32.png) [@pluto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pluto)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 1999, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tunguska-event/2883/2 "1999-08-26T22:22:00Z")
I don’t know the details but the existence of large amounts of antimatter in the universe is more or less disproved by astronomical data. Their would be more radiation from matter-antimatter interaction if it were there. In fact, one of the puzzles of modern cosmology is why there isn’t more antimatter. If the big bang were a truly balanced event matter and antimatter would have been created in equal amounts. The preponderance of matter indicates some effect we don’t understand yet. ## (Well, maybe somebody does understand by now – I’m recalling info from Steven Weinberg’s “The First Three Minutes” which was written years ago.) “non sunt multiplicanda entia praeter necessitatem” ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 1999, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tunguska-event/2883/3 "1999-08-26T23:42:00Z")
The most reasonable explanation of the T. Event that I’ve heard is a comet, not an asteroid. Most asteroids are rocky (with a few metallic or carbonaceous ones), while comets are described as “dirty snowballs”. An asteroid would most likely leave a big crater, which the scientists who went to investigate didn’t find. A comet, on the other hand, could explode in the air with enough power to knock down trees, but no hole in the ground. ## But I.ve also seen a suggestion that it was a tiny black hole. Even if that does seem as unsubstantiated as the antimatter. Bob the Random Expert “If we don’t have the answer, we’ll make one up.” ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 1999, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tunguska-event/2883/4 "1999-08-26T23:43:00Z")
That’s I-apostrophe-ve. ## Dammit! Bob the Random Expert “If we don’t have the answer, we’ll make one up.” ---
**Author:** ![E1skeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3da27b/32.png) [@E1skeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E1skeptic)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 1999, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tunguska-event/2883/5 "1999-08-27T00:54:00Z")
**rjk** and **Markxxx** : where do you get your info? I would like to get a reference to your “asteroid theory” and your “comet theory”, respectively. The most plausible theory concerning the Tunguska event is that of a **METEORITE** exploding “just” before hitting earth. An **asteroid** is a minor planet, or a “planetoid”. It is a small rocky solar system body that orbits the sun. Remember? Asteroid Belt, between Mars and Jupiter? Not to be confused with “meteorite”. Why don’t you try going to [discovermagazine](http://www.discover.com) , go to archives and search for an article titled “The Last Great Impact on Earth” on the September 1996 issue. Read it. Saludos. * * * Men will cease to commit atrocities only when they cease to believe absurdities. -Voltaire ---
**Author:** ![According\_to\_Pliny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@According\_to\_Pliny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/According_to_Pliny)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 1999, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tunguska-event/2883/6 "1999-08-27T01:07:00Z")
Wouldn’t both an asteroid and a comet qualify as meteorites (or more acurately, meteors) once they entered Earth’s atmospere? ---
**Author:** ![E1skeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3da27b/32.png) [@E1skeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E1skeptic)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 1999, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tunguska-event/2883/7 "1999-08-27T01:54:00Z")
**PapaBear** : I guess you could say so, but there is a specific implication in the word “meteorite”, namely, and let me quote from the Discover’s article I mention above, that it is a “fragment of rock or metal”: > [@](#): > > “Meteorites are mostly the battered flotsam of asteroids, which themselves are the wreckage of failed planets. Most are a primordial jumble of minerals and are known as stony meteorites (some of these are rich in organic carbon and are called carbonaceous chondrites). Other meteorites are rich in iron. Each kind of meteorite has a distinctive source: carbonaceous chondrites come from small asteroids on the cool, outward side of the asteroid belt. Closer to the sun, temperatures are too high for the carbon compounds to condense into the asteroids. At this closer range, there are many large asteroids with iron cores. When they disintegrate, the rubble from their exterior becomes stony meteorites, and the core creates iron meteorites.” By the way, I just lightly browsed the website’s homepage (from Markxxx OP) and my comments would only be harsh. “The Millennium Education Group” sponsored by a Dr. Dennis Ramsey (a self-proclaimed “akkadian religion” follower), claims to “…intend to propel the study of technology from today’s school into the school of tomorrow’s 21st century”. A very “interesting” and peculiar website indeed. Including his little dog’s pictures! * * * Men will cease to commit atrocities only when they cease to believe absurdities. -Voltaire ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 1999, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tunguska-event/2883/8 "1999-08-27T02:02:00Z")
I looked in a couple of encyclopedias and it says asteriod. I never heard of the antimatter theory till I came across that web page. They said basically because of the radiation involved it couldn’t be a meteor. Or it was unlikely. Anyway I don’t know what is correct but the idea of antimatter just seems so cool. ---
**Author:** ![sly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e56c9b/32.png) [@sly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sly)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 1999, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tunguska-event/2883/9 "1999-08-27T02:06:00Z")
Meteor = streak of light (shooting star) produced by a Meteoriod = mass which burns up in the atmosphere Meteorite = mass which makes contact with earth ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 1999, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tunguska-event/2883/10 "1999-08-27T05:09:00Z")
E1skeptic, the Discover article you cite covers about all I know about the comet idea. I don’t have any specific references; the idea has been around for quite a while. The article also mentions the possible breakup of middle-sized meteorites, which I hadn’t considered, so maybe I’ll have to change my mind on what’s “most reasonable”. * * * Bob the Random Expert “If we don’t have the answer, we’ll make one up.” ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 1999, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tunguska-event/2883/11 "1999-08-28T05:55:00Z")
I think that if the comet/meteor was made of anti-matter it would disintergrate the second it hit earth’s atmosphere. It wouldn’t reach the ground at all. * * * “A day without sunshine is like, you know, night.” -Anon ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 1999, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tunguska-event/2883/12 "1999-08-28T19:19:00Z")
YOO-HOOO!!! C3!!! Pretty please , come & tell us about how it was the big, bad alien space ship! ``` PLEEEEEZEEE!!!!!! ``` Seriously, no nickle-iron fragments have ever been found at the T. Event site in almost a century of searching, so a comet , made of frozen gasses, is the likely candidate. ---
**Author:** ![E1skeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3da27b/32.png) [@E1skeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E1skeptic)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 1999, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tunguska-event/2883/13 "1999-08-28T20:19:00Z")
Hey, **Daniel** , who told you that? From the Discover Magazine’s article previously mentioned: > [@](#): > > Over the next two years the researchers gathered data on 5,854 particles from resin exuded by the six spruces and the pines near the epicenter, as well as 1,138 particles in the larch roots and the Tomsk spruces. Because the resin can’t be assigned precisely to adjacent tree rings, the particles couldn’t be dated more precisely than to say they belong to one of three periods–1885 to 1901, 1902 to 1914, or 1915 to 1930. Nevertheless, within those constraints, the results were striking: in the period from 1902 to 1914, a significant number of particles had unusually high levels of elements like **copper, gold, and nickel**. Because many of these elements have a relatively high number of protons (denoted by physicists as Z), the researchers dubbed the particles that contain them “high-Z particles.” There were 10 times more high-Z particles in the period of the fireball than before or after, which made the Italians wonder if these particles had an extra-Earthly origin. Why don´t you check the article? You might find it to be interesting. * * * Men will cease to commit atrocities only when they cease to believe absurdities. -Voltaire ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 1999, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tunguska-event/2883/14 "1999-08-29T13:17:00Z")
i will look up the article. my info source was obviously a dated one. my apologies, ladies & gentlemen.