near miss

Near miss is a term used to describe the event where two airplanes come very close to hitting each other in mid-air, but narrowly avoid a collision. It is a bit of a misnomer however, since near hit would be more appropriate.

The term near miss is also used to describe the situation when a celestial body comes close to hitting another object in space.

NASA and the United States Department of Defense has a joint effort, the Near-Earth Object Search Committee, to identify and monitor every comet and asteroid that endangers the earth. The joint venture was budgeted for the fiscal years of 1996 through 2000. Their greatest concern lies with these objects passing near the sun effectively blinding us to their approach.

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Several miles above the speed limit
Swirling colors
raced by

Six days before the end of another year.
A few dozen hours later than I had intended
Ten minutes after midnight.

Two time zones short of the divide
she woke up and pulled herself
close to me when I

almost flipped the truck
Swerving to miss
a traffic barrel

Five seconds of panic became only
small orange lights
in the rearview mirror