The Search for the Tunguska Meteorite: The Tunguska Airburst of 1908

This video was produced by the Smithsonian Institution, adapted from content by The Committee on Meteorites of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. It features original footage of the USSR's expeditions to Tunguska and Sikhote Alin. Most of the footage is from ca. 1927 to 1960.
Translated by Eugene Jarosewich & Roy S. Clarke Jr.
Narrated by Bud Rice
Edited by Albert J. Robinson
Digitized from 16 mm by David Kring, reformatted by Jason Utas
Licensing is creative commons.

[@cahg3871]

I have to give credit to these scientists for taking on such an arduous journey to find the point of impact.Siberia is a huge country(you can fit Canada within the borders of Siberia and still have room left over) and much of the landscape is just about impassable by conventional means.And if that isn’t hard enough,the mosquitoes and various fly species will eat you alive in summer months.Winter is downright freezing with temps bordering on minus 50 Fahrenheit.I first learned of this event as a teenager 40 some years ago.Thanks for the upload.

[@rezzer7918]

- a Siberia escapee

[@Bryan-ig2zp]

Which makes the music absolutely hilarious.

[@Paul-cb8cf]

It was not a meteor at all. These scientists are wrong. I know what it was.

[@ianmangham4570]

HUGE place and rough as hell to survive 😮❤

[@gregobern6084]

Happy times for science music ​@@Bryan-ig2zp

[@cluideman]

This is easily the best documentary on Tunguska that I have seen. Thank you !

[@FlatlandMountaineer-1]

Excellent program. Period correct photos and film with scientific facts - no hyperbole. Thank you for posting this.

[@peterk.4266]

What struck me most is how remarkably advanced the research was from technological point of view. Even so long ago it was still very, very advanced. I just find is captivating.

[@TheDoctor1225]

One day I came across a term that I had never seen before; "presentism." Among its different meanings were two that made a lot more sense out of why so many seem to dismiss the knowledge/abilities of people in times past; A bias toward present-day attitudes and the tendency to interpret the past through present day perspectives and ideas. I believe that it tends to make people think that we are remarkably advanced and anything before our time were little more than ignorant savages who were too stupid to know much beyond "fire burns you" and "you need air to breathe." Like you, I was impressed at the level of knowledge, and glad, too.

[@eucliduschaumeau8813]

Most of the information found online for the past few decades has mostly been hyperbole and wild speculation about what happened in Tunguska. This miraculous documentary tells the complete scientific history of the event and how it was studied, in clear detailed terms. Thanks for posting. I once had an eight ounce individual piece of the Sikhote Alin meteorite, which I regrettably sold ten years ago. It was not “shrapnel” and had the best features possible.

[@dutchess406]

​@@cyclingnerddelux698lol compared to the video where the dude says it was Teslas energy weapon that caused the tunguska event

[@TheDoctor1225]

Yes - and I believe that has become the norm in most "documentaries" today. They are little more than flash, cutscenes, dramatic swinging around of the camera on people/places and lots and lots of "DUN DUN DUNNNNN" hyperbole thrown in to try and keep your attention. They've gone the way of reality TV, sadly. I'm glad that ones such as this exist, in which you can be given the facts as they were known, and can enjoy them.

[@dannycolorado5875]

Something like this was not caused by an electrical event. Great documentary.

[@PortmanRd]

Nice that this footage has survived.

[@Pamudder]

This documentary describes the very high quality of Soviet science, at least in this relatively non-ideological field. It is interesting and somewhat surprising that the Smithsonian Institution translated this Soviet documentary and made it accessible to western audiences in the midst of the Cold War

[@blmi5591]

That film was not widely accessible in USSR. I was always interested about what happened in Tunguska since my childhood, was reading all about it and if it was shown in our movie theaters I would know it. Majority of documentaries in USSR were shot and placed in archives, That one probably was shown on some scientific conference that is how Smithsonian got it but not to the wide soviet audience.

[@george1la]

Excellent information. Great original pictures.

[@dougdillon1271]

Absolutely wonderful film. Thank you!

[@andres6868]

very interesting video. Some of the documentary footage was later used in Carl Sagan's Cosmos episode "Heaven and Hell" where the Tunguska event was discussed

[@frisk151]

Probably the best place this could have taken place! This is a great video on the topic... I'm surprised it doesn't have more views.. Thanks for sharing this!

[@rogerscottcathey]

True. Somewhat odd

[@MeteoriteGallery]

This video was up for quite some time, but only just started gaining traction. I think KZbin randomly started suggesting it to people about a month ago, but couldn't tell you what changed or why.

[@TheDoctor1225]

@@MeteoriteGallery I can support that, even as a person who enjoys documentaries (not "real TV disguised as documentaries") but also scientific subjects; this is quite literally the first I've seen it or known of your channel. I am VERY glad I found both of them!

[@PazuzuDarkVoid]

This must be the best documentary I have seen so far.

[@LB-oz9hv]

One can hardly imagine how bad the bugs were up there!

[@markmark2080]

I first learned of this event as a teen in the '60s, this video makes me appreciate the massive effort that went into the investigation, thanks so much for posting.

[@sonnylambert4893]

LOVE old documentaries even if the “ expert science” is limited or inaccurate or incomplete or false. Kinda like now I guess lol but with no allusions to wormholes, aliens, black magic, secret military weaponry or modern political propaganda. Love the soundtrack AND narration.Nice post! Merci!

[@danlowe8684]

I agree. However, I find that the older studies are superior in accuracy for the very reasons you mention. I read a lot of older (pre-1990) journal articles and studies when I want to research a current 'calamity' in the world and have yet to find a current topic of sudden interest that has not already been thoroughly studied, documented, published, and is almost always prescient.

[@Joe-jv5mm]

Not Contaminated by today's 👽 Wing 🔩 Shills, True Science

[@terrymccormick5358]

The soundtrack music reminded me of all the Saturday afternoon matinees I enjoyed as a kid in the 1950s.

[@dougdouglas3945]

Good stuff. Thanks for the upload.👍

[@TheGor54]

It takes over one thousand years for the Earth's atmoshere to recover from such an event. We are experiencing thus event.

[@ronv6637]

What are the ongoing effects? Small amounts of debris would have precipitated fairly quickly and energy transfer would dissipate rapidly.

[@justtim9767]

Very interesting. I operated our company's Electron Beam Microprobe and Scanning Electron Electron Microprobe for 30 years. I wish that I had been able to obtain some of that material.

[@uptoapoint7157]

Excellent. The way science should be done.

[@dshmechanic]

I pity the guy that got stuck with building that huge trees mockup towards the end.

[@peerpede-p.]

Well made, and very informativ documentary...

[@mwj5368]

I wonder for how long the Smithsonian had this film as it was recently presented here probably for the first time to the world. Thank you very much for posting this. I would have never seen it otherwise. It's amazing the effort and the years behind all of the research about Tunguska. How fortunate it occured in a remote area. It seems they found no human remains or even remains of animals that might have perished. I thought they found particles embedded in the trunks of the trees. Also I thought a local man collected quite large pieces of the meteor, yet maybe they doubted it. was actually from the asteroid or meteor. I thought it was determined to be an asteroid. It's also remarkable when that meteor hit about in 2013 or so and if there might be a pattern of meteors striking in Siberia. Some long ago blamed Nikola Tesla and his lab on Long Island New York that he was trying to create wireless transmission of electricity to electrify the world instead of using power lines.

[@dannycolorado5875]

No. Tesla was smart, but at That Time...would have been impossible for a cause and effect, so many miles apart. From New York to Mid Siberia...all the way over there, no way. Mr Tesla was not God.

[@prabhakarv4193]

Very nice and informative. Thank you

[@Joe-jv5mm]

Excellent scientific Work with basic tools and 🧠 Power, I tip my hat

[@shedjammer87]

Actually, according to "The Ringing Cedars of Russia" books about a wild natural woman who lived alone in the Taiga, her great Grandfather was a powerful Vedic Russ who vaporized the comet above the Earth so that it would not cause an extinction level event. The old wizard lived through it although he was totally blind afterward.

[@TheSilmarillian]

That doesn't surprise me in the least great comment.

[@mitchellschaff6520]

nothing like a good spheral, that's what my granpappy used to say.

[@prabhakarv4193]

Very interesting

[@colonthree]

Whatever it was, it reminded me of a Tsar Bomba, and it means that its waves of shock must have traveled around a planet at least once.

[@Hoyeons7]

This footage so rare! good work :D and the fashion are looks like almost modern of today

[@mrhassell]

Airburst Comet. Not a Meteor, or an Asteroid. Massive chunk of Comet Enki, from the Taurids. Big clump of dirty snowball.

[@prabhakarv4193]

Informative. Thank you

[@MeteoriteGallery]

Thanks for watching!

[@prabhakarv4193]

@@MeteoriteGallery welcome

[@gunnarerdmann7104]

A production made in Russia. Beautiful !

[@luizfernando-ko4gi]

Que documentário incrível!! Sempre achei q foi algo ufológico que caiu na terra, mas ainda acredito que "guardiões"destruíram o cometa salvando a terra! Like e inscrito do Brasil❤

[@legitbeans9078]

Oh god the music is wrecking my head

[@sonnylambert4893]

Get over YOURSELF. And leave God out of it…

[@sonnylambert4893]

Get over YOURSELF. And leave God out of it…

[@legitbeans9078]

@@sonnylambert4893 uhh thats just an expression. I don't even believe in any "god" I just think the choice of music really doesn't suit this documentary.

[@legitbeans9078]

It's a documentary about the most powerful meteorite strike in human history and they put ridiculous silly music instead of something more sombre. Its not the right tone to set. We could be struck by another one that size at any time. Thats my point.

[@legitbeans9078]

Nobody saw the Chelyabynsk meteor coming and it almost blew up an entire town.

[@E-Kat]

2:40 first Plexiglass / Perspex display shelves? Or am I wrong?

[@larrysauls9990]

San francisco earthquake and Wright brothers Making their airplane

[@jamesminecraft-qx1zf]

Godzilla had some bad gas and went out there and let it rip.

[@johndyson4109]

That occurance is a TRIP'!

[@nigelcarren]

I was experimenting with some facial-topiary at the weekend but hadn't decided on a name for my new look! Now, thanks to this documentary I have named my beard... the 'Soviet scientist!' Thank you 🇬🇧🏆🇷🇺

[@ronniesen2522]

Tesla gone wild.

[@gregvigil1815]

Tall-El Hammam Meteorite Airburst in Jordan, north of the Dead Sea, several thousand years ago. SEE: A Tunguska sized airburst destroyed Tall el-Hammam a Middle Bronze Age city in the Jordan Valley near the Dead Sea. (It's a peer review article written in a "Scientific Journal")

[@MeteoriteGallery]

That article was based on faked observations and poor scientific methods, and has been discredited. www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-08216-x retractionwatch.com/2021/10/01/criticism-engulfs-paper-claiming-an-asteroid-destroyed-biblical-sodom-and-gomorrah/ skepticalinquirer.org/2021/12/sodom-meteor-strike-claims-should-be-taken-with-a-pillar-of-salt/

[@mrgreenfull3897]

Amazing Russian people and scientists 😊

[@E-Kat]

The opening footage of an explosion is not of the Tunguska meteorite, but I'm sure everyone knows that. 😊

[@pattywolford]

Great archival film. Annoying background music.

[@MeteoriteGallery]

Haha, agreed. The music also got several copyright claims 🤷‍♂️

[@johndyson4109]

It's a good thing the comet/meteorite did not fall upon a city or a heavily populated area!! Interesting a theory of a massive collection of cosmic dust, therefor no meteorite fragments..

[@TheSilmarillian]

Was thinking the same imagine if it air bursted over a major city.

[@jimmie999999999]

gotta love the soundtrack! workin their balls off and they play this! funny!

[@NicholasPorter-p8i]

Brilliant video although i do believe a ‘comet’ was responsible

[@MeteoriteGallery]

You are probably correct. I'm not really sure how to respond to the people commenting with conspiracy theories on here.

[@NicholasPorter-p8i]

@@MeteoriteGalleryyeah there r some bizarre theories that’s for sure but as you know the science points towards comet/meteorite. I leans towards the ‘comet’ theory

[@prevost8686]

Is there a scientific reason why it could not have been an ice meteorite?

[@MeteoriteGallery]

@@NicholasPorter-p8i Cometary is definitely possible, but I don't think I'd make such concrete statements. There's no hard line between objects like D-class asteroids and comets, so I'd hesitate before saying it was a comet versus something like a friable CI-chondrite like asteroid or even an object similar to 2008 TC3 - just larger. It's very possible that recoverable meteorites fell. It took 13 years for the first expeditions to arrive - if the object was something like a CI chondrite, any meteorites that survived to reach the ground would have turned to mud within, at most, a few months. If they were a more durable type...it's still possible that they're there to be found, but haven't been recovered yet. The dynamics of the explosion are still very much a subject of ongoing work, and modeling a potential strewnfield for an event like this, even today, is educated guesswork. NASA's models for the Muskogee, Oklahoma, fall just a few years ago were off by several miles. If you look in the wrong spot, you have no chance of finding anything... Even with good intel, hunting for a decades-old fall in a literal swamp would be extremely challenging, and finding any fragments would be remarkably lucky. I'm not convinced either way.

[@MeteoriteGallery]

@@prevost8686 An icy meteorite would be a comet by definition. The trouble is that small objects in the Solar System aren't just all rock or all ice - there's a gradient. Active comets tend to be very icy, but many asteroids look like comets that have gotten trapped in the warm inner Solar System and have lost most of their water / ice. But they're still very soft and would act similarly when coming into the atmosphere. Based on how the Tunguska object ~exploded, we know it was friable, but that's all I'd say we know for certain. It could have been cometary / icy. It could also have just been a soft/wet asteroid, like a CI1 chondrite.

[@everettbass8659]

Lotta damn work 😆

[@dshmechanic]

Especially that huge trees mockup! LOL

[@bigantplowright5711]

Excellent, pity about the music..........

[@jussikankinen9409]

Million ton iron block and 700kg was biggest found

[@MeteoriteGallery]

Mmmm the 700 kg rock you're talking about was an iron that fell in 1947 in Sikhote Alin - different Russian meteorite fall.

[@stoobydootoo4098]

Was the thumbnail picture taken at Ascot?

[@ndyexperiments]

How you got the visuals

[@MeteoriteGallery]

The video was originally digitized by David Kring (currently at LPI-JSC) and a copy was sent to John Wasson at UCLA. I found it among John's effects after he passed away. From what I was able to find out, David and John had hopes of releasing the video around 20 years ago, but were unable to, due to questions about copyright. The music was copyright claimed so I'll never see any revenue from it, but I still thought it was worth sharing. There's no real drawback to posting copyright-claimed content on KZbin - I'd just never see any ad revenue from it, but this channel isn't monetized, anyway.

[@CraigTheaker-n8r]

Kulik the epitome of the intrepid scientist.

[@Svensk7119]

They had seismometers in 1908?? Nationalistic music for each nationality of scientists! "Men of Harlech" for the British? I have never heard of the Drake Strait before.

[@MeteoriteGallery]

Had to look this up - the first ‘modern’ seismometers/seismographs were developed circa 1870-1880, so, yes, apparently!

[@Svensk7119]

@@MeteoriteGallery Nice!

[@eucliduschaumeau8813]

Seismometers are quite analog in principle, using a stylus with ink, weights, springs, a clockwork drum and a roll of paper.

[@Ged-k7w]

Wow , great boco❤

[@johnwalker863]

Firmament fragment fell

[@skd999100]

💚💚💚💚💚💪💪💪🌷🌷

[@ottavva]

that was actually an early Ukrainian drone

[@OldMoms]

Scientists & researchers can look forever they’ve never going to find anything. Another theory I’ve heard that it was a comet? composed of ice. 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@MeteoriteGallery]

Our best guess is that it was a very "soft," comet-like asteroid. A few similar but smaller events like Revelstoke (fell in Canada in 1965) have been documented and a little material has been recovered. Revelstoke was identical to a rare type of meteorites we have other samples of called CI chondrites. They are very friable, clay-rich meteorites -- spectrally similar to B and D-type asteroids like the asteroid Bennu, which OSIRIS-REx just sampled. When modeling the atmospheric entry of soft bodies like this, if they are large enough, they tend to punch through the upper levels of the atmosphere and then explode catastrophically when ram pressure builds high enough. Most meteorites are much more coherent and are better at surviving fragmentation. I've been trying to come up with a practical analogy -- it's like the difference between dropping a rock off of a high bridge versus a bag of flour: The rock will probably survive hitting the surface of the water. The bag of flour will probably ~poof. There is a good chance that the Tunguska event dropped at least some recoverable CI-chondrite meteorites. Unfortunately, CI chondrites react rapidly with water and decompose into ~mud. A CI chondrite would not survive for more than a year or two if left exposed to the wet climate of the area. The Tunguska event was in 1908 and the first expedition made it to the area only by 1927, 19 years later. It's too bad. But the Tunguska event was similar enough to a number of other witnessed events that we have a pretty good idea of why it happened and what the impactor was.

[@jussikankinen9409]

Tesla testing

[@johnsonvideos1450]

Tesla weapon

[@sonnylambert4893]

@@johnsonvideos1450😂😂😂

[@sonnylambert4893]

@@jussikankinen9409😂😂😂

[@salmotones]

They found meteorite fragments. Others have also. Why is this ignored?!?!

[@MeteoriteGallery]

From Tunguska, nothing larger than ~sub-mm spherules has been found. It's difficult to say whether or not any larger fragments reached the ground because some meteorite types like carbonaceous chondrites would probably turn to ~mud after a few years in that climate. Even if they fell, the first expedition arrived years after the event and there wouldn't have been anything to find. In general, hunting in dense vegetation for stones that had fallen years prior would be extremely difficult. Most stones from witnessed meteorite falls are recovered within a few days or weeks of the fall, because impact holes quickly disappear and fresh growth and dead leaves will hide anything small on the surface within weeks to months. There could still be stones out there, but it's also possible that none reached the ground, or that they were something like a CI chondrite, which turned to mud within a few weeks or months. We don't know for certain.

[@salmotones]

@@MeteoriteGallery I am trying to grasp this, as I've always read nothing was found either, but a gentleman in this documentary at the 39:30 mark says the collection is from there. I don't know how. I understand it's swampy, and the vegetation would surely cover anything as you said. Thank you for the reply. I need to expand my knowledge on the subject of things that fall to earth.

[@MeteoriteGallery]

@salmotones This video is

[@salmotones]

@@MeteoriteGallery kzbin.info/www/bejne/bnbde554dqp7b6Msi=Ak68iaJxxKoynWGP

[@salmotones]

@@MeteoriteGallery sorry, I did not paste the copied link in my response. Thank you kindly for your patience. The video you posted is awesome. Those teams were seriously good at what they did. The hardships of gathering data are almost superhuman.

[@sillybilly8028]

Stop looking. Ask that N. Tesla dude. Oh. He's gone with all his secrets.

[@chrisshelhamer3774]

Trump's uncle had them.

[@markkaminski2416]

​@@chrisshelhamer3774Hahaha, don't give him any ideas to lay claim to 😂

[@markkaminski2416]

​@@chrisshelhamer3774This is a fascinating program. The relentless research is fascinating. Another good program is the Mystery of Matter ,A PBS production about the periodic table.

[@StopNuclearBallisticMissle]

Some would say that a wormhole from a parallel universe sent a ballistic nuclear missile to this exact location.

[@Derpy1969]

So… you’re not saying it was aliens, but….

[@ianmangham4570]

Wish i was there when that bad boy went screaming in 😮 it's gotta be worth the ⚰️ far as I'm concerned 😅 ,now I'm over the half century mark I'd take the hit lol 🌎

[@JordanArno-l7x]

White Jeffrey Harris Anna Rodriguez Elizabeth

[@happyhunter]

What meteorite ever air bursted? None? Flighr trajectory diverted from inhabited area. Radiation contaminarion. What meteor can do that?

[@TheCrossroads533]

Meteor airburst: It's called a bolide.

[@Stimor]

Chelyabinsk meteor, tunguska event was pretty much the same as that but a lot bigger

[@robertomagnani8091]

1) According to the results, it was a comet's chunk, not meteorite. And it exploded in the air, up above. 2) Flight trajectory diverted...? Please explain about your information source. 3) There was no presence of radioactivity in the place, probably only usual background.

[@waltershoults8803]

That explosion came about from “ External Forces “ no meteorite will be found.

[@jussikankinen9409]

Tesla testing

[@wr3add]

Russians r cray cray

[@Paul-cb8cf]

It wasnt a meteor at all. I know what it was but not many would believe me.

[@Strong_UP_Calvins_zombie]

Tungusta event was an electric discharge not a meteorite

[@eucliduschaumeau8813]

Balderdash.

[@_Opal_Miner_]

You're a discharge.

[@sonnylambert4893]

Poppeycock

[@davidmurray6176]

Bullocks

[@MeteoriteGallery]

If it were an electric discharge, you would expect to find the point where it discharged or made contact with the ground, like a fulgurite. Even relatively small events like downed powerlines produce fulgurite-like lechatelierite material. I cannot imagine the scale of melting you would expect to see with an event this large. Nothing like that was found in Tunguska, so I don't think it is likely. The expeditions did find abundant cosmic spherules like those associated with large fireballs / meteorite falls. And the composition of those spherules was meteorite-like / not from, say, vaporized dust or dirt from Earth.

[@scottgibbons2904]

The music makes it so exciting! NOT

[@yahwea]

Today, it is believed to have been a comet, which came apart completely.

[@darlenelang3681]

There was no Meteor it exploded in the air. Therefore left no trace

[@solardisk3]

Great doc, but that music does not fit in the slightest. They made it look like a trip to Disney instead of a place of foreboding awe.

[@thecommonsenseconservative5576]

Anyone notice how all the stupid comments come from accounts with subscribers and no content

[@TheDoctor1225]

Or people who do have content that indicate they are either lunatics or dyed in the wool conspiracy theorists that probably believe we're all lizard man aliens. Best to just ignore them and go on - reason won't work with them any more than it does the insanely politically partisan.

[@graceevangeline7721]

Researching about Sodom and Gomorrah brought me here. Enjoyed watching this

[@tonyharding4794]

Exactly

[@TheHypnotstCollector]

the microspheres are also found in all dust samples from the WTC/911. Many millions, billions really

[@jussikankinen9409]

Asteroid dont turn human to stone like volcanos

[@bonnie579]

Some think including myself , it was satan being thrown from heaven. Since 1908 the world has got darker. Jesus Christ will be here soon get ready.

[@DG-kq8zf]

​@jussikankinen9409 if you're referring to Pompeii, those were actually voids in the ash that were filled with plaster.

[@caretakerfochr3834]

Superb. I would love to see this documentary colourised.

[@Trex531]

On Carl Sagan’s Cosmos episode 4, he concludes that a piece of a comet is the culprit of the Tunguska explosion. I agree.

[@sonnylambert4893]

Where did the piece go?

[@Trex531]

@@sonnylambert4893 Watch that episode and you'll get the answer. Right here in KZbin.

[@Derpy1969]

It exploded. Then melted.

[@TheSilmarillian]

It was an air burst so nothing left.

[@TheSilmarillian]

Love the old footage nice 1 indeed. Big rock she fall from the blue of the sky. Weird that the Smithsonian actually lets anything go instead of their true 2 form hiding it away .May I add that when Tesla was first made aware of this, he commented on this event and he said whoops, but I digress have been told i do so on occasion's.