No Black Hole Or Magnetic Monopole: Tunguska Really Was a Meteor

davide-nature writes "The mysterious blast that flattened 2,000 square km of a remote Siberian forest in 1908 has been blamed on the most bizarre causes, such as an exotic elementary particle left over from the Big Bang, a black hole or, of course, aliens, including in the double-episode 'Tunguska' of The X-Files. But a new analysis of tiny rock samples suggests that a more mundane explanation — a meteor exploding in the atmosphere — may be the right one. The blast is estimated to have packed between 3 and 5 megatons, 10 times the energy of the meteor that exploded over Russia earlier this year."

Comments

Hm, wasn't aware there was any controversy

[saturnianjourneyman]

Wasn't aware there was any controversy about this. I always thought it was believed to be a meteor or comet. Of course, I underestimated the power of human imagination. I shouldn't be surprised that some people out there thought it was OMG ALIENS or maybe a strange dark matter bomb placed by the Romulans. After all, if there's a needlessly complicated, idiotic rationale for how the Pyramids have straight walls, there must be one for a giant explosion in Siberia.

Re:Hm, wasn't aware there was any controversy

[Mashiki]

How would they know the sticks were at a 90 degree angle?

How did the Romans figure out how to build the aqueducts, and great feats of engineering? Mathematics+trial and error. The belief that only 'advanced people' could build things like that is an unbelievable amount of hubris. Being realistic, we really don't know how many dark ages we've passed through, except those that really stand out.

Re:It's amazing

[wonkey_monkey]

Because, like most conspiracy theories, believing in them makes you feel cleverer than the sheeple around you.