Sandia supercomputers offer new explanation of Tunguska disaster

I remember reading a comprehensive analysis of the Tunguska explosion back in the 1950's, and further later ones which had been done by the then "fast" Computer simulations.

The stored Kinetic Energy of a speeding cosmic object is generally poorly appreciated.

Kind Regards.....

How much did this USEFUL study cost taxpayers?

Understanding the damage caused by asteroids, even small ones, is of great value. As stated in the article:

"The asteroid that caused the extensive damage was much smaller than we had thought," says Sandia principal investigator Mark Boslough of the impact that occurred June 30, 1908. "That such a small object can do this kind of destruction suggests that smaller asteroids are something to consider. Their smaller size indicates such collisions are not as improbable as we had believed."

Because smaller asteroids approach Earth statistically more frequently than larger ones, he says, "We should be making more efforts at detecting the smaller ones than we have till now."

I heard it was the nucleus of a comet that blew up over tungunska. The superheated steam exploded and knocked down trees for hundreds of miles and left nearly no trace.

Wow and to think that for all of this time I thought it was a UFO that had blown up over the area. Hmmmmmm, I wonder what happened to all of the evidence of the asteroid, or comet. Wouldn't there be some sign of debris (all be it very small debris) that could point us in the right direction?

Hello Ferris,

Several years ago, there was a proper scientific expedition to the site.

Photos, movie clips and careful measurements were taken.

There was no residue in evidence, anywhere in the area, in spite of the very careful search.

But perhaps because the nucleus of most comets consists of water ice, it would have melted away, almost 100 years ago, a bit before my time.....

The area was totally devastated and nobody knows what happened or if a comet exploded or something else did. The steam explosion concept is as plausible as any other.