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Astronomy Picture of the Day -- Tunguska: The Largest Recent Impact Event
NASA ^ | October 02, 2011 | (see photo credit)

Posted on 10/01/2011 9:12:53 PM PDT by SunkenCiv

Explanation: Yes, but can your meteor do this? The most powerful natural explosion in recent Earth history occurred on 1908 June 30 when a meteor exploded above the Tunguska River in Siberia, Russia. Detonating with an estimated power 1,000 times greater than the atomic bomb dropped over Hiroshima, the Tunguska event leveled trees over 40 kilometers away and shook the ground in a tremendous earthquake. Eyewitness reports are astounding. The above picture was taken by a Russian expedition to the Tunguska site almost 20 years after the event, finding trees littering the ground like toothpicks. Estimates of the meteor's size range from 60 meters to over 1000 meters in diameter. Recent evidence suggests that nearby Lake Cheko may even have been created by the impact. Although a meteor the size of the Tunguska can level a city, metropolitan areas take up such a small fraction of the Earth's surface that a direct impact on one is relatively unlikely. More likely is an impact in the water near a city that creates a dangerous tsunami. One focus of modern astronomy is to find Solar System objects capable of creating such devastation well before they impact the Earth.

October 02, 2011

(Excerpt) Read more at 129.164.179.22 ...


TOPICS: Astronomy; Astronomy Picture of the Day; Science
KEYWORDS: apod; asteroid; asteroids; astronomy; lakecheko; russia; science; siberia; tunguska
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To: SunkenCiv

Thanks.

I never knew what to make of such claims. They seemed rather . . . out there.


21 posted on 10/02/2011 6:01:59 AM PDT by Quix (Times are a changin' INSURE you have believed in your heart & confessed Jesus as Lord Come NtheFlesh)
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To: Quix

Ooops, and when I said, “it’s probably around here somewhere”, I meant the book, not the exploding UFO.

Although, wth, it would be nice to have a chunk of a UFO...


22 posted on 10/02/2011 6:23:39 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (It's never a bad time to FReep this link -- https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: SunkenCiv

23 posted on 10/02/2011 7:42:08 AM PDT by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet)
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To: JoeProBono; SunkenCiv

Great. It was a cosmic beaver. No doubt some escapee from a black hole in the coal sack marauding across the galaxy with the sole intent of bringing long, rigid poles to their limpid demise.


24 posted on 10/02/2011 8:01:44 AM PDT by bigheadfred (But alas)
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To: bigheadfred

25 posted on 10/02/2011 8:12:46 AM PDT by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet)
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To: JoeProBono

I was thinking more like black latex.


26 posted on 10/02/2011 8:16:44 AM PDT by bigheadfred (But alas)
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To: SunkenCiv

And that pic was taken 19 years after the event....wow...


27 posted on 10/02/2011 8:40:11 AM PDT by DeoVindiceSicSemperTyrannis (V'al kulam eloha selichot S'lach lanu m'chal lanu kaper lanu)
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To: SunkenCiv
"Although a meteor the size of the Tunguska can level a city, metropolitan areas take up such a small fraction of the Earth's surface that a direct impact on one is relatively unlikely."

There are some who believe the Chicago Fire and the Peshtigo Fire, which occurred on the same night at the same time (200 miles apart), may have been caused by a meteor or comet. The fire in Peshtigo, WI. killed 1500 people, destroyed three towns and burned 4 million acres of forest and prairie.

28 posted on 10/02/2011 8:50:00 AM PDT by Flag_This (Real presidents don't bow.)
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To: SunkenCiv

Thank you for your posts!


29 posted on 10/02/2011 2:36:38 PM PDT by Amberdawn
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To: BigCinBigD
They just couldn't wait to circle the block.


30 posted on 10/02/2011 5:04:07 PM PDT by rawcatslyentist (It is necessary that a person be born of a father who is a citizen; ~Vattel's Law of Nations)
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To: SunkenCiv

They need to be careful about that black oil in the Tunguska rocks . . . .


31 posted on 10/03/2011 1:33:29 PM PDT by colorado tanker
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Click the Pic               Thank you, JoeProBono

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32 posted on 10/03/2011 2:31:42 PM PDT by TheOldLady (FReepmail me to get ON or OFF the ZOT LIGHTNING ping list)
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To: colorado tanker

;’)


33 posted on 10/03/2011 8:52:50 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (It's never a bad time to FReep this link -- https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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