‘If the right one don’t get you, then the left one will’
Monday marked the 100 year anniversary of the 1908 Tunguska meteor event that destroyed an 800 square mile swath of Siberia. The blast was caused by a space rock spanning approx. 50 yards wide that exploded in mid-air over the Tunguska River in Siberia after entering the Earth’s atmosphere. The resulting blast is estimated to have been over 1000 times stronger than that caused by the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
Surrounding this 100 year anniversary, scientists around the world have been reflecting on this event, and the potential for others like it in the future. While an impact similar to the Tunguska event could easily annihilate a major city, this is not even close to the largest strike known to have hit our planet. The largest known strike occurred around 4.6 billion years ago when an object the size of Mars collided with the Earth’s northern hemisphere. The resulting explosion and debris is believed to have led to the formation of our moon. Fortunately, astronomers tasked with watching the skies for potential impacts believe we are probably out of harm’s way for at least another hundred years.
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