A truck-sized asteroid zoomed frighteningly close to Earth this weekend

An asteroid just shot by the Earth
(Image credit: iStock.)

A truck-sized asteroid passed within 40,563 miles of Earth on Sunday, just hours after it was first spotted by scientists, CBS News reports. It was a very, very near miss: The moon, by comparison, is 238,900 miles away from Earth.

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Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.