Tunguska

American  

[toong-goo-skuh, toon-goo-skuh] / tʊŋˈgu skə, tunˈgu skə /

noun

1. any of three tributaries of the Yenisei River in the central Russian Federation in Asia: the Lower Tunguska, 2,000 miles (3,220 km) long; the Upper Tunguska or the lower course of the Angara, 1,151 miles (1,855 km) long; and the Stony Tunguska, about 975 miles (1,570 km) long.

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Tunguska British  

/ tunˈɡuskə /

noun

1. any of three rivers in Russia, in central Siberia, all tributaries of the Yenisei: the Lower (Nizhnyaya) Tunguska 2690 km (1670 miles) long; the Stony (Podkamennaya) Tunguska 1550 km (960 miles) long; the Upper (Verkhnyaya) Tunguska which is the lower course of the Angara

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Example Sentences

While small particles like those in the Taurid meteor shower enter the atmosphere all the time, larger bodies capable of producing events like the 2013 Chelyabinsk explosion or the 1908 Tunguska blast are much rarer.

From Science Daily • Oct. 31, 2025

During the 1908 Tunguska event in Siberia, the impact of a 213-foot meteor lofted debris, creating bright nights for several days over Europe and Asia, from Siberia to the Atlantic Ocean, according to the USGS.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 7, 2025

The nearest humans have come to this scale of event was the Tunguska event in 1908 when a 50-metre asteroid exploded in the skies above Siberia.

From BBC • Oct. 3, 2024

Another is the object that detonated above a region near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in Siberia in 1908, scorching and flattening trees across a remote area that was almost twice the size of Hong Kong.

From Scientific American • May 25, 2023

An impact of a small cometary fragment with the Earth, as at Tunguska, should occur about once every thousand years.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan