This is the first truly comprehensive and popular exposition of this century-long enigma written specially for Western readers. It is objective and pays attention to both conventional and unconventional theories of the Tunguska space body's origin. Also, The Tunguska Mystery is the only book written in the English language on Tunguska studies in the former Soviet Union and new independent states that is entirely based on firsthand accounts of serious researchers directly engaged in these studies. The book’s language is simple; The Tunguska Mystery is meant not only for specialists, but first of all for any reader who is interested in the fascinating enigmas of the world we live in.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements 
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Author’s Note 

Chapter 1. The Enigma of Tunguska

The Tunguska catastrophe of 1908 was devastating and confirms the need to protect Earth from such events in the future. During the twentieth century, the public has often read in newspapers and even in scholarly journals that “The Great Enigma of the Tunguska Meteorite Has Been Solved!” But such statements were premature. You will soon see that this subject is not so simple as was once thought. In fact, it is very unusual and mind-boggling.

Chapter 2. The Big Bang of More than Regional Significance 
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The flight and explosion of the Tunguska space body were seen and reported by many witnesses. Geophysicists in Siberia and elsewhere happened to record with their measuring instruments aerial waves and an earth tremor from the Tunguska explosion. Also, a strange geomagnetic storm followed the explosion. It did not spread beyond a relatively small area, but was recorded by an observatory in the city of Irkutsk. However, Siberian scientists were so stunned by this event that they did not dare to reveal its strange details to the scholarly community of the Russian Empire.

Chapter 3. A Shocking Discovery

The only reasonable explanation of the Tunguska explosion seemed to be the fall of a gigantic meteorite. The first investigations took place in the 1920s and 1930s, when Leonid Kulik, looking for a huge meteoritic crater, discovered an enormous area of the radially leveled forest – and no traces at all of the supposed meteorite or the crater. Instead, at the center of this area there were trees scorched and devoid of branches, but standing upright like telegraph poles. Both fallen and standing trees were burned – and these burns differed radically from those that usually remain after forest fires. Soviet academics were then even more bewildered than their imperial predecessors.

Chapter 4. Ideas Become Bizarre

In 1945 the engineer and sci-fi writer Alexander Kazantsev suggested an unexpected explanation for these enigmatic findings. He supposed that the Tunguska space body had exploded in the air, not when striking the earth, and it had been an extraterrestrial spaceship trying to land in this desolate region of the Earth. Kazantsev’s idea provoked outrage in official Soviet circles, yet surprisingly it drew serious attention to the unsolved problem of Tunguska.

Chapter 5. New Radical Research

A few Russian scientists considered and developed Kazantsev’s idea. In European Russia, Alexey Zolotov began to check the nuclear hypothesis of the Tunguska explosion, his investigations being supported by leading Soviet atomic scientists. In Siberia, the Independent Tunguska Exploration Group was formed, initially consisting of a dozen specialists, mainly physicists and mathematicians. Soon, however, this “core” of the organization would consist of 50 scientists, while a hundred specialists would take part in fieldwork each year, plus an amazing thousand researchers from various scientific institutions all over the Soviet Union analyzing relevant materials. And their findings were really important.

Chapter 6. Tracks Too Large To Be Seen

Two main traces of the Tunguska event – the leveled forest and the burning of the trees – were investigated in the second half of the twentieth century. Both turned out very informative and full of surprises. The shape of the fallen forest area (the so-called “butterfly”) together with its subtle structure have revealed that the Tunguska space body flew at a low velocity before the explosion – just a couple of kilometers per second. Therefore, even if it had hit the Earth’s surface (and it did not!) there could have been no explosion. But there was an explosion. As for the tree burn, it became evident that this burn resulted from a powerful light flash of this explosion.

Chapter 7. The Third Key

The geomagnetic storm recorded in Irkutsk on June 30, 1908, is even more surprising. It is very similar to such storms that occur after nuclear explosions in the atmosphere. Why was this? May there be an explanation other than the nuclear one? So far all alternative hypotheses appear less convincing. Also, strange magnetic anomalies were found in the soil around the epicenter of the Tunguska explosion. And last but not least, incomprehensible periodic fluctuations of the geomagnetic field were recorded far away from Tunguska in the German city of Kiel. They stopped 14 minutes after the explosion – and never returned. Was there a space body revolving in an orbit around Earth?

Chapter 8. Significant Details for the Big Picture

Smaller traces of the Tunguska event are also important for understanding its nature. For example, the presence of feeble but noticeable radioactive fallout after the Tunguska explosion is an empirical fact, confirmed by finding the peaks of radioactivity dated 1908 in trees that had withered before 1945 (that is, before the year when nuclear tests in the atmosphere started). Other peculiar empirical facts are the super fast restoration of the forest and genetic mutations in vegetation and living beings... And why is the Tunguska soil enriched with rare-earth metals? Are these some remnants of the Tunguska space body?

Chapter 9. Grasping the Chaos

Here you will find a detailed analysis of the testimonies of those people who witnessed the flight and explosion of the Tunguska space body. These accounts convincingly demonstrate that the details of the catastrophe at Tunguska were more intricate than is usually supposed. When processing the eyewitness reports, the researchers obtained, instead of an unambiguous picture of a space body arriving from a definite direction, evidence of either two bodies flying in different trajectories or one body performing various maneuvers – or a combination of these. Does this mean it was an alien spaceship? Not necessarily. In fact, under certain conditions even an ordinary piece of stone from space could have changed its direction of flight.

Chapter 10. From Comet to Plasmoid to Mirror Matter

Scientists have been trying to explain the Tunguska event, putting forward a whole lot of various hypotheses. In this chapter you will find ten hypotheses that contributed the most to the advancement of the Tunguska studies. They differ considerably, including not only those involving a simple stony asteroid or an icy comet core, but also much more complicated constructions – such as the conception of an “orbital comet”, developed by a group of Russian astronomers or the idea of a microscopic “black hole”. And there are even more exotic assumptions – say, the “solar plasmoid”, proposed as a natural substitute of the alien spaceship, or an asteroid consisting of the theoretically predicted “mirror matter” which possesses fantastic properties. So many fascinating ideas!...

Chapter 11. The Theory Is Dead – Long Live the New Model

Alas, none of these hypotheses can explain all aspects of the Tunguska event. So, perhaps it’s time to forget about theories and pay attention to empirical facts? The traces of the Tunguska event that were considered in previous chapters are providing valuable information about various parameters of the Tunguska space body, the dynamics of its flight and characteristics of its explosion. Here the author is reconstructing the whole Tunguska event – basing his considerations on all well-established facts and reliable estimates. What is the result and at which conclusions did he arrive at? You will know after reading this chapter.

Chapter 12. So What Is the Answer?

Of course, this reconstruction, however comprehensive and objective, will not necessarily give us an immediate answer to the question about the nature of the Tunguska phenomenon and the origin of the Tunguska space body. Rather, it is explaining why the correct hypothesis that will provide this answer is still to be developed. Perhaps, it might even include the arrival of an extraterrestrial spaceship? But more importantly, whatever the true nature of the Tunguska event it was very dangerous. If a similar explosion occurred over a large city, such as New York or Moscow, that city would be obliterated. So the Tunguska problem is definitely worth our attention.

Index 
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Reviews:

Michael Schmicker, Book Reviewer, Journal of Scientific Exploration (Honolulu, HI, USA):

This is arguably the best book you will find on this subject – thorough, balanced, detailed, in-depth and very well-written on top of everything else. If you're interested in the Tunguska mystery, start here. My hat is off to Rubtsov for his scholarship and lucid writing style.

An excellent account of the Tunguska explosion!, by William I. McNeff  (Minneapolis, MN, USA):

I greatly enjoyed this book. Although I have read several accounts of the Tunguska event, this book brought to light important facts of which I was not aware. Like the careful scientist that he is, Dr. Rubtsov summarizes all of the known facts and gives details of important facets, then shows why all of the current theories of what happened do not adequately explain the facts. He shows that from a scientific standpoint the problem is not solved, but he points the way toward a solution, and believes it is not so far away. The solution toward which the facts point will be startling to many scientists, but as Sherlock Holmes said, when you have eliminated the impossible, the possible, however improbable, must be the solution!

I highly recommend this book!, by Margaret H. Kichline (Bethlehem, PA, USA)

Even though I just recently received this book, after going through all the pages briefly, I find it to be very well written which shows the author's true dedication for detailed information, research and inquiries with colleagues. Along with the various hypothesis for this true life mystery, the illustrations and photographs help the reader to understand the great importance of this study. I found this book to be a fine addition to anyone's library. Who does not enjoy a good mystery...a true scientific mystery which may help us someday to protect our Earth from future Tunguska events?!

I wish to add, after reading this book, that it was very enjoyable from beginning to end. Within each chapter, the data and research was most detailed and understandable, along with a touch of humor and many interesting scientific facts! 

A Comprehensive Treatment of a Complex – and Still Unsolved – Mystery,  by Ian Dubin (The Great White North)

On June 30, 1908, on a sunny Siberian morning at 00 H 14 M GMT (7:14 am local time) something exploded in the skies over the Podkamennaya (Lower Stony) Tunguska River in what is now Krasnoyarsk Krai of Russia. The blast blew out windows 200 km away and was heard more than 800 km from the site. The seismic wave was recorded as far away as Germany and the atmospheric pressure wave was measured on barographs in London. The nearest eyewitnesses (30 km to the south-southeast) had their shelter blown away, their local area set afire, and reported a second sun in the sky. Approximately 2100 sq km of forest was radially flattened and then burned. At the epicentre, trees remained standing but were stripped of branches - burnt telegraph poles. The blast occurred at some 6 to 8 km altitude. There is no impact crater.

I became fascinated by the Tunguska Event nearly half a century ago, reading about it in 'Boy's Life' or some such and I am not alone, as it has become an enduring Global mystery, familiar to hundreds of millions, and a staple of popular western culture seeking the undefinable. A true X-File. This morning, (26 October 2009) a Google search on 'Tunguska event' turned up over 59,000 hits. Not surprising for an occurrence that has been the focus of intense curiosity, speculation and (as Dr. Rubtsov has detailed) an extraordinary investigative effort by Soviet and Russian scientists over the last hundred years.

Dr. Rubtsov's book is an encyclopedic compilation and a well written precis of the scientific records of that marvellous research. From the 1921 Kulik expedition searching for evidence of a meteorite impact (which was not found) to the Centenary conferences held in 2008 to discuss the event (there were more than half a dozen of them), Dr. Rubtsov has catalogued the incredible effort put into the problem over the last century, both by independent researchers and also by the official Soviet (later Russian) Scientific Academies. Much of the content and references have not been widely documented in the West prior to this publication and that is not surprising, since most of the citations refer to previous documentation only available in Russian. It is an excellent reference book and a worthy addition to the libraries of all anomalists.

More than that, it is clear from Dr. Rubtsov's writing that he holds a huge 'affection' (for lack of a better word), not only for the still unsolved mystery of the Tunguska Event (which he has been personally involved in for nearly four decades), but also for the vast army of scientific researchers (it was a revelation to me just how vast this army was) who have spent large proportions of their professional lives in trying to make sense of this extraordinary happening. He writes with humour and a subtle wit. The subtlety is not misplaced, since during the Soviet era, subtlety was necessary in addressing the problem. The wrong inference published by an open-minded scientist could have earned him a one way ticket to Siberia and a lifetime spent contemplating the mystery from some nearby Gulag. In this respect, Dr. Rubtsov's book should be of interest not only to anomalists, but also to historians and others interested in the evolution of the Soviet scientific effort under the paradigm of an (arguably) paranoid totalitarian government.

Dr. Rubtsov is meticulous in detailing the evidence that has emerged of the mystery. Unusual celestial phenomena recorded as remotely as Western Europe beginning three days or earlier before the event. Many hundreds of eyewitness reports from up to 1000 km away of a flying object (or objects) as it (or they) approached Tunguska, records of the hemispheric magnetic storm associated with the explosion, analysis of the felled trees, including blast patterns and 'flash burns', remnant traces of 'hard' or ionizing radiation in the area, the presence of rare earth elements (and other interesting elements) in the zone affected by the explosion, biological mutations and last but not least, barographic records of the explosion that indicate the possibility that it may have had a nuclear origin. The calculated magnitude of the blast itself was 50 megatons, approximately equivalent to the largest hydrogen bomb ever detonated (the so-called Tsar Bomb fired in 1961 in Novaya Zemlya). This was not your garden variety meteorite!

The book is extremely well referenced and I suspect that Dr. Rubtsov's editor, Edward Ashpole, has had a large influence in setting it in it's final form for English publication. I would have liked a more comprehensive index dealing more specifically with subjects as well as with people - perhaps that will come in later printings?

It is apparent that in addition to being a good writer and scientist, above all Dr. Rubtsov is an empiricist. He repeatedly makes the point that there is no use in proposing explanations that do not fit all of the empirical data. From Kulik's 1921 meteorite, through comet cores, cosmic snowflakes, mini-black holes, an antimatter asteroid and even the 'fanciful' explanation proposed by the Russian Science Fiction writer Alexander Kazantsev in 1945 (a distressed alien starship), Dr. Rubtsov has looked at them all. None of them totally fit the data, although some of them have definitely provided insight and guidance for future research.

Does Dr. Rubtsov have his own theory? Indeed he does, but I will not reveal it in this review, partly because I am still trying to get my head around it. Does it fit the data? Well, yes. That should be enough although it probably won't be. There is clearly more work to be done.

Heartily recommended for all of us who do not totally trust or accept the current world view promulgated in the popular media. Heartily recommended for all those who like to look at the evidence (the two - ie the current world view and the evidence - are not, in my opinion, necessarily contiguous). I think that Dr. Rubtsov would probably agree.

Curiouser and Curiouser!, by Mike M. (Northridge, CA, USA):

On a clear summer day in 1908, a large space body flew over central Siberia, leveled over 30 million trees and ... left no hole in the ground! Such is the origin of one of the most enduring science mysteries. Initial expeditions to the remote region expected to find conclusive evidence, in the form of craters and/or remnants of a space body, that the catastrophe was caused either by a meteorite or a comet. But no such evidence was found. Instead, successive expeditions over the next decades uncovered so many unusual findings and curious anomalies that the enigma of the Tunguska Space Body (TSB) became even more mysterious.

Vladimir Rubtsov's comprehensive book describes the findings made by experts in various fields and traces the development of hypotheses regarding the true nature of the TSB. The book is very well organized and it's a credit to the author's writing skills that it reads like a scientific detective story. His own hypothesis, the twist ending if you will, most likely will leave you scratching your head!  

 

 

“If a book is worth reading it is worth buying.” – John Ruskin