Tunguska Event Flattens Siberian Forest

A stony asteroid approximately 50-60 meters wide entered the atmosphere over the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in central Siberia and exploded at an altitude of 5-10 kilometers. The airburst released energy equivalent to 3-50 megatons of TNT, flattening approximately 2,150 square kilometers of taiga forest and generating seismic waves detected across Eurasia. No impact crater formed because the object disintegrated before reaching the ground. The sparsely populated location meant few human casualties, but the event prompted decades of scientific investigation into near-Earth object threats.