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What happened during the Tunguska event in Siberia in 1908?

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Meteor and meteoroid The Cabin Creek meteorite, an iron (nickel-iron alloy) meteorite that was observed to fall in northwestern Arkansas on March 27, 1886. Its characteristic pattern of “thumbprint” dimples, or regmaglypts, is the result of melting and consequent ablation of its surface as it traveled through the atmosphere. The meteorite is likely a fragment of one of the M class asteroids, which show significant nickel-iron in their surface material.

The Tunguska event was a massive explosion that occurred on June 30, 1908, near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in central Siberia.1

Scientists estimate the blast had an energy equivalent to 15 megatons of TNT, flattening approximately 2,000 square km of forest. Because the object—likely an asteroid or comet—exploded at an altitude of 5–10 km, it created a powerful blast wave and fireball but left no impact crater.12

Eyewitnesses reported a fireball and intense heat, while seismic waves were recorded as far away as western Europe. The vaporization of the object dispersed gases into the atmosphere, resulting in abnormally bright nighttime skies for some time afterward. While expeditions have recovered only tiny fragments, the event remains a significant example of an Earth impact hazard, illustrating the destructive potential of a large meteoroid entering our atmosphere.12