The Tunguska fireball: solving one of the great mysteries of the 20th century

At 7.14 a.m. on 30 June 1908 a huge fireball exploded in the Siberian sky.

A thousand times the force of the Hiroshima bomb, it flattened an area of remote Tunguska forest bigger than Greater London, forming a mushroom cloud that almost reached into space.

Six hundred kilometres away, the Trans-Siberian Express rattled wildly on its newly built tracks.

Tremors registered in distant St Petersburg, and the unusually bright night skies seen across England over the next few nights prompted letters to The Times.

What was it? A century on, and no one knows for sure. Suspects range from comets or mini black holes into the realms of science fiction and conspircy: a laser beam fired by extra-terrestrials or an early nuclear experiment.

The author tells the incredible story of the fireball and of the scientists and charlatans alike who have been seduced by it.

Playing the detective, he takes an exhilirating ride around one of science's greatest mysteries - and ends by pointing a finger at a prime suspect.