On a summer morning in 1908, exactly 118 years ago today, something tore across the skies above one of the most remote corners of Siberia and changed the landscape in seconds. There was no crater to inspect and no intact meteorite to recover, and for nearly two decades, no scientific expedition was capable of reaching the site.

What remained instead were eyewitness accounts of a blazing object brighter than the Sun, thunderous explosions, forests flattened across an immense area and a mystery that would occupy generations of scientists. 

Around 7:15 am on June 30 in 1908, during the reign of Tsar Nicholas II, an objectThe region was sparsely populated, inhabited largely by Evenki reindeer herders. Their descriptions became the first record of an event that scientists would spend the next century attempting to reconstruct.

Witnesses reported a brilliant fireball trailing smoke before a flash brighter than the Sun lit the sky. A deafening roar followed. The blast took place roughly 4,000 km east of Moscow near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in Yeniseysk Governorate (present-day Krasnoyarsk Krai) in Russia.

In the history books, it is called the Tunguska Event.Those nearest the blast said they were thrown into the air, some losing consciousness as homes were damaged or destroyed.

Others farther away described seeing a towering column rising into the atmosphere. Herds of reindeer reportedly perished. Seismic instruments hundreds of miles away detected tremors generated by the shock wave.

Today, scientists believe the object entered Earth's atmosphere at an angle of roughly 30 degrees before exploding at an altitude of roughly 10 km. Instead of striking the ground intact, it released an enormous amount of energy in the atmosphere. from space entered Earth's atmosphere over Siberia.

Source:Ndtv