On the possibility of through passage of asteroid bodies across the Earth's atmosphere

TL;DR

This study investigates the conditions under which asteroid bodies of various sizes and compositions can pass through Earth's atmosphere and exit into space, providing a potential explanation for the Tunguska event.

Contribution

It presents a detailed analysis of asteroid atmospheric passage conditions, supporting the hypothesis that Tunguska was caused by an iron asteroid that survived atmospheric entry.

Findings

Iron asteroids can pass through Earth's atmosphere with minimal mass loss.

The Tunguska event may have been caused by an iron asteroid that continued into space.

Conditions for asteroid passage depend on size, composition, and trajectory altitude.

Abstract

We have studied the conditions of through passage of asteroids with diameters 200, 100 and 50 m, consisting of three types of materials -- iron, stone and water ice across the Earth's atmosphere with the minimum trajectory altitude 10--15 km. The conditions of this passage with subsequent exit into outer space with the preservation of a substantial fraction of the initial mass have been found. The results obtained support our idea explaining one of the long-standing problems of astronomy -- the Tunguska phenomenon which has not received reasonable and comprehensive interpretations to date. We argue that Tunguska event was caused by an iron asteroid body, which passed through the Earth's atmosphere and continued to the near-solar orbit.