A 20-meter wide asteroid, 2009 FH, passed within about 52,000 miles of the Earth (or about 1/5th the distance from the Earth to the Moon). This comes only two weeks after a 100-meter asteroid came within 40,000 miles of the Earth. And just like that earlier near miss, astronomers didn't see 2009 FH until the last minute, it was only discovered on Tuesday.
Scientists estimate that had either rock hit the Earth, it would have impacted with the force of a large nuclear bomb.
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