Biggest piece of Mars on Earth, juvenile dinosaur skeleton up for auction at Sotheby's
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A Mars rock was expected to sell at auction for $4 million. The final bid was for more
The largest piece of Mars to ever make its way to Earth is now also the most valuable meteorite in the world. A chunk of the Martian surface that at some point crashed into Earth following an unlikely cosmic journey sold Wednesday, July 16 to an anonymous bidder for a record $5.3 million at a Sotheby's New York auction. The final price tag, which came after various fees and costs were added, is the most any meteorite of any origin has ever sold for at auction, Sotheby's said in a post on social media site X. The sale also surpasses the $2-4 million the Mars rock was expected to fetch. What is the Mars rock? The large space rock, which has the scientific name of NWA 16788, had its Martian origins validated by the Meteoritical Society, which included it in its Meteoritical Bulletin, the global journal of record for meteor-related science. The meteorite was previously on exhibit at the Italian Space Agency in Rome and at a private gallery in Arezzo, Italy, in Tuscany, before it landed in Sotheby's auction. Mars rock sells for $5.3 million: Who bought it? Marketed by Sotheby's as "the largest Martian meteorite ever found on Earth," the cosmic object was expected to sell for up to $4 million. The final bid was $4.3 million. The official final sale price was then about $5.3 million after various fees and costs were added, multiple outlets reported, including the Associated Press and ABC News. Sotheby's, a British-founded auctioneer of art and collectibles based in New York City, auctioned off the meteorite, along with more than 100 other items, Wednesday, July 16. Sotheby's has not publicly identified the buyer. What are meteorites? Rocks in space are known as meteoroids. If those space rocks enter Earth's atmosphere, they become meteors that streak across the sky in events colloquially referred to as "shooting stars." Meteors – or fragments of them – that survive their atmospheric trip and land on the surface without burning up become meteorites, according to NASA. Martian meteorite is largest on Earth: How big is it? The Martian meteorite is 54 pounds, or about the weight of a standard bag of cement. Measuring nearly 15 inches by 11 inches by 6 inches, the space rock is approximately 70% larger than the next largest piece of Mars found on Earth. In fact, it is so large that it represents approximately 6.5% of all Martian material ever found on Earth. How did Martian space rock get to Earth? NWA 16788 was discovered Nov. 16, 2023, by a meteorite hunter in Niger's remote Agadez region in the Sahara Desert. Featuring an unmistakable reddish Martian hue, NWA 16788's internal composition suggests it was blasted from the surface of Mars by a powerful asteroid strike. Intense enough to turn some of the meteorite's minerals into glass, the asteroid strike sent the rock hurtling through space, where it miraculously made it through Earth's atmosphere without burning up, Sotheby's said in an auction house video. Because the meteorite shows signs of minimal Earthly weathering, and its chemical makeup has not significantly changed, experts believe it reached our planet in recent years. On a planet mostly covered in water, discovering meteorites on land is incredibly rare. And Mars meteorites are even more elusive on Earth. Of the more than 77,000 officially recognized meteorites, only 400 are Martian meteorites, according to Sotheby's. Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@ This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mars rock auction $5.3 million bid surpasses Sotheby's expectations Solve the daily Crossword
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A vast shadow will sweep over Saturn's cloud tops early on July 18: Here's how to see it
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Early risers will get a rare opportunity to see something extraordinary in the early hours of July 18 — the dark shadow of Saturn's largest moon, Titan, sweeping across the planet's cloud tops. Once every 15 years, Saturn's tilted orbit brings its iconic rings — and Titan's orbital path — into an edge-on alignment with Earth. This event, known as a ring-plane crossing, heralds the onset of a season of dramatic 'shadow transits', as Titan's vast umbral silhouette periodically sweeps across the gas giant's surface. "Sighting a shadow transit of Titan for an amateur astronomer is somewhat the equivalent of a fisherman hooking and reeling in a particularly large or elusive fish," Hayden Planetarium instructor and lecturer Joe Rao told in an email. "It is so unusual a sight that doesn't happen very often, which is why even veteran skywatchers are excited at the possibility of making such a sighting." When is Titan's shadow transit? Titan's next shadow transit will get underway at 3 a.m. EDT (0700 GMT) on July 18, at which time the moon's dark outline will be visible slowly progressing across Saturn's cloudy disk, according to Sky and Telescope. Look for Saturn in the southeastern sky, just below the stars of the constellation Pisces shining like a bright star to the naked eye, with the moon in the east. Observers in the U.S. will have a good view of the first two hours of the shadow transit, but by the time Titan's shadow leaves Saturn's disk at 8:05 a.m. EDT (12:05 GMT), the brightening dawn will overpower the view. How powerful does a telescope need to be to spot Titan's shadow? At the time of the shadow transit, Titan and Saturn will be separated by approximately 846 million miles (1.36 billion kilometers) from Earth — far beyond the capabilities of the naked eye or binoculars, but well within reach of many amateur telescopes. We asked Rao for guidance on the kind of scope needed to view Titan's shadow transit. "An 8-inch telescope at 200-power or a 10-inch telescope at 250-power should provide a good view of Titan's shadow, especially on a night of good seeing," Rao explained. To calculate the magnifcation of your telescope, you need only divide its focal length by the focal length of your chosen eyepiece. For example, a 1000 mm telescope with a 10 mm eyepiece yields 100-power magnification. Rao also emphasised that stable atmospheric conditions are crucial to obtaining a clear view. This becomes more important when using higher power with a smaller aperture scope. It's best to use one-half magnification/power when viewing distant objects to avoid them appearing to "boil", or "scintilate" when viewed through the eyepiece. "At least 200-power is necessary for getting a reasonably good view of the dark 'shadow dot' projected on Saturn's disk," continued Rao. "The general rule of thumb is to utilize 50-power for every inch of aperture of the telescope objective, or mirror. So, for a 4-inch telescope, the maximum magnification to be used is 200-power, which is considered the limit for a telescope of that size." When are the next Titan shadow transits? After the July 18 event, five more Titan shadow transits will be visible from Earth. Each occurs roughly16 days after the last — a result of Titan's 16-day orbital period — and starting progressively earlier in the night for viewers in the U.S. Date Start End Aug 3 2:25 a.m. 7:04 a.m. Aug 19 1:52 a.m. 6:00 a.m. Sept 4 1:25 a.m. 4:50 a.m. Sept 20 1:09 a.m. 3:34 a.m. Oct 6 1:32 a.m. The next transit after this week will begin at 2:25 a.m. (0625 GMT) on August 3, while the last chance to catch the moon's shadow fall on Saturn will take place on October 6. After the October event, stargazers will have to wait another 15 years before the next ring crossing brings Titan — and its shadow — into alignment once more! Titan's shadow through the eyes of the Cassini spacecraft Without question, the most spectacular views of a Titan shadow transit came courtesy of NASA's Cassini spacecraft, which witnessed the moon's dark outline fall over Saturn's cloud surface in November 2009, while it travelled a mere 1.3 million miles (2.1 million km) from the colossal gas giant. Cassini has long since found its resting place beneath the cloud surface of Saturn, but amateur astronomers will have an opportunity to follow in Cassini's steps later this week and witness the next Titan shadow transit for themselves when it takes place on July 18. "Though we, living in the 21st century, have grown accustomed to seeing the Saturnian system through the eyes of Cassini, there still remains the thrill of witnessing, with one's own eyes, a major celestial event in the life of another planet a billion miles away," Carolyn Porco, planetary scientists and imaging team leader for NASA's Cassini mission told in an email. Editor's Note: If you would like to share your images of the Titan shadow transit with readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@ Solve the daily Crossword
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Dinosaur fossil found underneath a Denver museum's parking lot
The phrase 'leave no stone unturned' has taken on new meaning for paleontologists at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science who discovered a special fossil hidden right under their noses — beneath the museum's parking lot. The dinosaur bone came to light in January during a drilling project to study the layers of rock underneath the site, the museum announced on July 9. The team had planned to pull an Earth core sample, a long cylindrical piece of rock or sediment, and came across a partial fossil. At about 2.5 inches (6.4 centimeters ) in diameter — the width of the extracted rock core — the disk-shaped specimen is the vertebra of a plant-eating dinosaur that roamed the region more than 67 million years ago. At a depth of about 760 feet (230 meters) below the surface, it is the oldest and deepest fossil ever found within Denver, according to the museum's release. There is not enough of the fossil to determine its species, but this rare find helps fill in a picture of the ecosystem during the Cretaceous period in what's now Denver, said Dr. James Hagadorn, the museum's curator of geology. Scientists were able to narrow the fossil down to an herbivorous group of bipedal dinosaurs known as ornithopods, and it's the first ornithopod to be found in Denver's city limits. 'We knew those dinosaurs were (nearby in other parts of) Colorado or Wyoming, but we didn't know that they were in Denver, too … but we suspected it right at this time period,' Hagadorn said. 'Now, we have another plant eater that's been cruising around Denver munching on, who knows, gingers and palm leaves and other ferns and plants 67 million years ago.' Coring for dinosaur fossils The unexpected addition is now on display at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, which has around 115,000 dinosaur, plant and mammal fossils in its collection, according to its website. Since there are only two other instances in the world of a dinosaur bone having been uncovered in a core sample, Hagadorn said he believes the newly found vertebra is the first to be put on display. More of the ornithopod fossil remains underground, but there are no plans to excavate the deeply buried specimen, Hagadorn said. 'Unfortunately, we can't excavate our entire parking lot. Parking is really important at the museum and in all cultural (centers ),' he said. 'But the bonus here is that people can now park right on top of a dinosaur.' The drilling project's initial purpose was to investigate whether the museum could switch from natural gas to a geothermal energy system. Researchers still have about 1,000 feet of extracted rock core left to analyze — which could contain fossils, minerals or other structures that weren't visible on the core's exterior, Hagadorn said. Further study of the sample will also help experts at the museum better understand the region's geology and other environmental factors such as drinking water. While studying the rock core has many purposes, finding a dinosaur fossil was not something the team expected, Hagadorn added. 'It's like the lucky strike. I mean, who would have figured? … It's like Robin Hood splitting an arrow in half, or an apple, from 2 ½ football fields away.' Even without the full fossil available, the small bone allows scientists to better understand the diversity of dinosaurs that once roamed the Denver Basin near the end of the Cretaceous period, Hagadorn said. He likened it to a diorama that has one more confirmed character added to the picture. Colorado Cretaceous period The finding is a 'nice example of how dinosaur fossils are distributed around in our environment, even in … places that might seem unlikely, like in the middle of the city of Denver,' said Dr. Paul Olsen, a paleontologist and Arthur D. Storke Memorial Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University. Olsen was not involved with the discovery. 'It's illustrative of how dinosaur bones and other fossils are really not terribly rare, and anytime you have a really good way of viewing the rock … you will run into fossils,' he added. 'And fairly often, if (the rock) is the right age, you'll run into dinosaur bones.' Most often, rock coring is performed after a fossil has been discovered, because it can give scientists a better look at the layering within the rock and what the environment was like millions of years ago, Olsen said. Colorado tends to be the sweet spot for Cretaceous fossils due to the number of rocks from that period near the surface that volcanoes haven't harmed or faults haven't broken up, Hagadorn said. In light of the parking lot discovery, paleontologists were inspired to go back and look at available satellite and elevation data to date all other fossils previously found within the Denver metro area, including a Tyrannosaurus rex, Triceratops and Torosaurus, and other major fossil deposits. Before that analysis, the team only knew that the ornithopod vertebra was from the Late Cretaceous period. With the new data, which was published in June in the journal Rocky Mountain Geology, researchers were able to give the newly discovered fossil, as well as others included in the study, a more precise age. 'No one ever dated these things before,' Hagadorn said. 'It wasn't very feasible to do that in the past, but today, we were able to use some specialized maps, geologic maps, GIS (geographic information systems) and really precise elevations that you can now get from satellites to place all these things in space and then in time.' While most fossils within the study were found in more rural areas, the ornithopod vertebra highlights remaining fossils yet to be discovered, particularly in untapped urban areas. Discovery of the bone within the core, and the use of more precise dating techniques to understand its place in time, allows for better understanding of the changing world, Columbia's Olsen said. 'These kinds of studies give humans context of where they fit in the history of the universe and the history of the world,' said Olsen, who also didn't participate in the new analysis. 'It documents the changes through time that occurred, and sometimes we learn really astounding things. … And at a much more granular level, it gives us ways of trying to understand how the world actually works, in terms of developing hypotheses of climate change (or) hypotheses of mass extinction,' he added. 'So all of this gives us context for understanding, and sort of a library of reality, to go compare our theories with.' Taylor Nicioli is a freelance journalist based in New York. Solve the daily Crossword
