Latest news with #NWA16788
Business Insider
22-07-2025
- Science
- Business Insider
The $5.3 million sale of a precious rock from Mars belonging to Niger spurs outrage
A rare Martian meteorite unearthed in Niger sold for a whopping $5.3 million at a Sotheby's auction in New York, prompting outrage from scientists and cultural heritage defenders who are now seeking answers and its return. A Martian meteorite weighing 24.6 kilograms and discovered in Niger was auctioned for $5.3 million at Sotheby's New York. The meteorite, known as NWA 16788, is the largest Martian rock ever found on Earth, estimated to have traveled 140 million miles. Concerns were raised about the legality and ethical implications of exporting this significant artifact from Niger. In November 2023, a meteorite hunter discovered NWA 16788 in the Agadez area of northern Niger. It weighs more than 24.6 kilograms (54 pounds) and is the biggest Martian rock ever recovered on Earth, according to Sotheby's. Experts estimate it traveled 140 million miles from Mars' surface, likely dislodged by an ancient asteroid impact, before landing in the Sahara sands. The auction started at $1.9 million and quickly jumped to $4.3 million, with premiums and fees bringing the total to $5.3 million. However, Sotheby's has not revealed the identity of either the buyer or the seller, heightening speculation over how such an important alien item departed its nation of origin. The auction took place during the auction house's "Geek Week," which features goods related to natural history, science, and space. A private gallery in Tuscany, Italy, and the Italian Space Agency had both previously exhibited the rock. Conversation on meteorites in Africa The specimen's provenance remains a matter of debate, however, as reported by Forbes. 'The NWA 16788 meteorite was shipped and transported in line with the standard procedure of all meteorites that come out of Niger. As with everything we sell, all relevant documentation was in order at each stage of its journey,' Sotheby's tells Forbes Africa. According to Giovanni Pratesi, a professor at the University of Florence in Italy and one of the authors of two of the three papers referenced in the Sotheby's catalogue, he was 'only involved in the characterization and study of this specimen (NWA 16788), without having received, for a while, any information about provenance.' 'In fact, the place of recovery of the meteorites is not so important for science because their real provenance, of course, is not the Earth but other bodies of the Solar System,' Pratesi says. 'Anyway, there is no doubt that the Sahara represents a very important reservoir of extraterrestrial material. 'A confirmation of this is given by the high number of meteorite specimens bearing the name NWA (North West Africa) that is used when the exact place of recovery is not known. In this respect, I believe that African countries should organize a network to recover and valorize these meteorites.' The sale has reignited concerns about the unregulated trade of meteorites, particularly those discovered in developing countries. Nigerien officials and international cultural watchdogs are now questioning the legality and ethics of the meteorite's export, with many demanding its immediate return. 'It was discovered in Niger? How come it ended up being sold in New York?' says Alia Baré, a fashion designer and daughter of former Nigerien president Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara, to Forbes Africa. 'It is a crucial matter of sovereignty… This is a national treasure that shouldn't have been sold. Things have to change,' she added.
Observer
21-07-2025
- Science
- Observer
Martian meteorite sells for record $5.3 million at Sotheby's
A 54-pound (24.5-kg) Martian meteorite that is the largest known piece of Mars found on Earth has sold for $5.3 million at Sotheby's, setting a new auction record for a meteorite. The auction on Wednesday for the rock known as NWA 16788 sparked a 15-minute bidding war between online and phone bidders. "This is an amazing Martian meteorite that broke off of the Martian surface," said Cassandra Hatton, Sotheby's vice-chairman and global head of science and natural history, ahead of the auction. The fragment was discovered in November 2023 by a meteorite hunter in the Sahara Desert, in Niger's remote Agadez region. "The people there knew already that it was something special," said Hatton. "It wasn't until it got to the lab and pieces were tested that we realized, 'Oh my gosh, it's Martian.' And then when those results came back and we compared and saw, OK, it's not just Martian, it is the biggest piece of Mars on the planet." Martian meteorite sells for record $5.3 million at Sotheby's About 5 million years ago, an asteroid or comet slammed into Mars so hard that rocks and other debris launched into space. "So it comes hurtling... 140 million miles through space, makes it through Earth's atmosphere," said Hatton, noting that most things burn up in our planet's atmosphere. "It's incredible that it made it through and then that it crashed in the middle of the desert instead of the middle of the ocean, in a place where we could find it, and that somebody who could recognize what it was found it. "So there's a whole kind of process or a layer of things that have to happen in order for this to become reality and be here in front of us." Just like its mother planet, NWA 16788 has a distinctly reddish hue, as well as signs of fusion crust from its violent descent through Earth's atmosphere. There are about 400 officially recognized Martian meteorites on Earth, of which NWA 16788 is by far the largest. —Reuters
Yahoo
20-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
The largest Mars rock on Earth is up for auction in NYC — it could be yours for $4 million (or more)
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. NEW YORK CITY — Tucked away in a building on the corner of 72nd Street and York Avenue in Lenox Hill, an extraterrestrial marvel sits sturdily on a mirrored pedestal. It's the largest Mars rock on planet Earth — and it turns out its 54-pound (25-kilogram), ashy, terracotta structure isn't as priceless as you'd expect. This Mars rock is up for auction at Sotheby's in New York City this week, which is why it's currently on display in the Upper East Side. As of now, it's expected to sell for between $2 million and $4 million, but it could very well sell for far more. "At the end of the day, it's the bidders who tell us what things are worth, not me, not anyone else. The estimates are just there to give people an indication," Cassandra Hatton, the vice chairman of science and natural history at Sotheby's, told "Last summer, I sold the Stegosaurus 'Apex.' For the Stegosaurus, the estimate was [$4 million to $6 million], and it sold for $44.6 million." Hatton said she first heard about the Mars rock (formally called NWA 16788) about a year ago from the rock's seller, who learned about the specimen from a meteorite hunter in Africa. ("NWA" is short for "Northwest Africa," the region where the rock was found.) "When they first acquired it, they called me right away," she said. "I said, 'All right, we have got to get it tested; we need to have it published in the meteoritical bulletin." As such, the seller went through several formal steps to document and test the rock as well as have it published upon. That testing process was rather rigorous for a few reasons. First of all, unlike lunar meteorite candidates, possible Mars meteorites have no pristine samples to be compared with. During the Apollo years, astronauts physically brought hundreds of pounds of moon rocks back to Earth, and those samples still serve as the isotopic reference point for determining whether a rock is indeed a lunar meteorite or just a peculiar piece of our planet. Astronauts haven't visited the Red Planet yet, so of course we don't have any Mars rock reference points — and though there is still talk of a possible Mars Sample Return program to bring home samples that NASA's Perseverance rover has been collecting from the Martian surface over the last few years, the timeline on that is as unclear as can be. It may even be cancelled, if the Trump administration's fiscal year 2026 budget proposal is passed as-is by Congress. Alas, the testing team had to come up with a workaround, and they did so by considering a few clues we have about what a Martian meteorite should look like. How do you verify a Mars rock? Imagine something huge impacting another world — in this case, an asteroid striking Mars long ago. As a consequence of that impact, there'd have been a bunch of stuff that shot upward during the crash — chunks of the Martian surface, particles of dust, and who knows what else. If any of that debris managed to shoot far enough to exit the Martian atmosphere, it'd have been possible for those travelers to reach Earth, travel through our atmosphere and land somewhere on our world. Because of this journey, Martian atmospheric data is important to consider when verifying whether something is a Mars rock — and thanks to the twin Viking landers that NASA sent to Mars in the '70s, scientists indeed have that atmospheric data. "You'll find little gas pockets in a lot of Martian meteorites," Hatton said. "We've cut those pockets open and compared the gas in those pockets to the gas that we analyzed from the Martian atmosphere — and if they match up, then we know that rock came from Mars." The next step has to do with the general composition of a meteorite. Typically, Hatton explains, meteorites contain what's known as "Maskelynite" glass, which forms as the result of the big crash that forced the meteorite off the surface of a world. "That's layer one," she explained. "Is there Maskelynite glass in this rock? If it is, it's a meteorite, because we only find that in meteorites." "Then it's very easy," she said. "What's the [chemical makeup] of this rock? Compare it to a [Mars] rock that we have that we found in the desert — if they match, then boom. That's Martian." The market price of Mars Usually, pricing rare items that come into Sotheby's isn't too much of an ordeal. For instance, if you're trying to figure out the value of an antique necklace, you can look at the value of the stones and metals in the piece, think about the fame of the designer and look into how much other items from the same era cost. Similar thought processes help auction houses estimate the value of objects like photographs, autographs, technology and art. "If I have a Picasso, I just compare it to the other Picassos," Hatton said. "Is it bigger, blue or older? Is it depicting Marie-Thérèse [Walter, a French model and muse of the artist]?" The same can't be said for rare scientific items. "I really have to think about the context, the background, the history, the rarity, the significance, and then I put an estimate on it," Hatton said. In the case of the Mars rock soon to be up for auction, she said the cost estimate of $2 million to $4 million came from the fact that it's the biggest Red Planet meteorite we have. For context, other, smaller Martian meteorites have sold for between $20,000 and $80,000, Hatton said, but she emphasized that bigger isn't exactly always better in the auction world. Sometimes, the bigger you get, the more likely it is for the bidding price to go down. "How many people could fit a 100-foot long sauropod in their house? Nobody, not even every museum could fit a sauropod that's 100 feet long," she said, as an example. "So, then your market gets much smaller. That's also something to consider: Who could maintain this? Who could have it in their home?" But that reasoning doesn't really apply in this case, because NWA 16788 — though huge for a Mars meteorite — can still fit into an average-sized backpack. So, Hatton calls the maximum $4 million figure on the Mars rock at hand a conservative estimate. But beyond all the statistics, there's also an unusual aesthetic value to consider with NWA 16788. "It also looks just like the surface of the Red Planet," she said. "Most other Martian meteorites that we find are really small, thin slices, and when you first look at them, you would never guess that they're Martian." "This one has really amazing fusion crust on the outside," she added. "If you look closely at it, you could almost use it as a film set for a movie about Mars — put little teeny people on there, because you could see the grooves and the ripples and the mountains on it." But, well, does this belong in a museum? When asked why she believes a specimen so brilliant it can be called the "largest Mars rock on Earth" should be auctioned off to a collector rather than donated to a public museum or scientific institution — it's no secret that many would argue for the latter — Hatton looked back at the history of museums as a whole. "If we didn't have personal private collectors, we would not have museums," she said. "Many of my clients give the things to museums or loan them to museums." She also explained that having to pay for something may make one more likely to care for their property: "If it's precious to you monetarily, you take care of it. Having this value tied to the object helps ensure that it is taken care of." "There are some museums that don't have the funding and the staff to properly care for objects," she added. "So, a lot of times, the private collectors are saving these objects. They're making sure that they're taken care of." Hatton also pointed out that many major collectors loan their items to museums, and as part of that loan, offer extra money to have staff take care of the items or fund postdoctoral researchers to study them. Related Stories: — Ouch! Carlo Rambaldi's original screen-used 'E.T.' model might reach $1 million at Sotheby's auction — The secret of why Mars grew cold and dry may be locked away in its rocks — Space auction: Sally Ride memorabilia collection sells for $145,000 "Part of what I am hoping, and I think I am achieving with a lot of these sales, is raising the profile of all of these different types of space, sci-tech and natural history objects, and helping people understand how important they are." And though Hatton doesn't allow herself to place her own personal value estimate on the Mars rock — or anything she's auctioning off, for that matter — she highlighted that auctions aren't always purely about the items themselves. "I've had people cry after they've bought things at an auction. I've cried when I've had people contact me and say, 'will you sell this?' because there [are] your white whales — your grails that you hope maybe one day you'll get to see. I always root for people to get what they want, because it's not just about the object. They're kind of chasing a dream." Solve the daily Crossword
Mint
19-07-2025
- Science
- Mint
Largest piece of Mars fetches $5.3 million at auction, young dinosaur skeleton steals the show
New York City recently hosted an auction of rare geological and archaeological objects, featuring the largest piece of Mars ever found which was sold for over $5 million. However, it was a rare young dinosaur skeleton which actually stole the show when it fetched more than $30 million in a bidding frenzy. The 54-pound (25-kilogram) rock, officially named NWA 16788 was sold for approximately $5.3 million, including fees and costs, making it the most valuable meteorite ever auctioned. The rock was discovered in the Sahara Desert, Niger by a meteorite hunter in November 2023, after it was blown off the surface of Mars by a massive asteroid strike, according to Sotheby's report, cited by AP. The red, brown and gray meteorite is about 70% larger than the next largest piece of Mars found on Earth and represents nearly 7% of all the Martian pieces currently on this planet, AP reported. Cassandra Hatton, vice chairman for science and natural history at Sotheby's highlighted the rarity of the find, noting that only 400 Martian meteorites out of the more than 77,000 officially recognized meteorites found on Earth are Martian. 'This Martian meteorite is the largest piece of Mars we have ever found by a long shot,' Hatton said. 'So it's more than double the size of what we previously thought was the largest piece of Mars.' Stealing the show was a rare young dinosaur skeleton that fetched an astounding $30.5 million, including fees and costs after a six minutes bidding war among six interested participants. The skeleton is identified as a Ceratosaurus nasicornis, which is one of only four known skeletons of its species and the only juvenile one. The species resemblesthe Tyrannosaurus rex but is smaller. The bidding began with a high advance offer of $6 million, quickly escalating during the live round with bids $500,000 higher than the last and later $1 million higher than the last before ending at $26 million. The winner plans to loan dinosaur skeleton to an institution, Sotheby's told AP. This sale marks the third-highest amount paid for a dinosaur at an auction. A Stegosaurus skeleton called 'Apex' holds the record after it was sold for $44.6 million last year at Sotheby's. Parts of the juvenile dinosaur were found in 1996 near Laramie, Wyoming, at Bone Cabin Quarry, which is considered a gold mine for dinosaur bones. It was acquired last year by Fossilogic, a Utah-based fossil preparation and mounting company. The skeleton is more than 6 feet (2 meters) tall and nearly 11 feet (3 meters) long, and is believed to belong to the lateJurassic period, about 150 million years ago. Ceratosaurus dinosaurs could grow up to 25 feet (7.6 meters) long, while the T. rex could be 40 feet (12 meters) long, the news agency reported.
Russia Today
19-07-2025
- Science
- Russia Today
Largest Martian meteorite breaks auction record
The largest Martian meteorite ever sold fetched a record-breaking $5.3 million at an auction in the United States, according to a statement published by Sotheby's on Wednesday. Weighing 24.67 kilograms, the rock called Northwest Africa 16788 (NWA 16788) is a fragment that broke off the surface of Mars after an asteroid impact. It was discovered by a meteorite hunter in the Sahara Desert in the country of Niger in November 2023. 'NWA 16788 is covered in a reddish-brown fusion crust, giving it an unmistakable Martian hue,' Sotheby's explained. 'Regmaglypts, or surface depressions formed by frictional heating during rapid descent through Earth's atmosphere, are also visible on the surface of the meteorite.' According to Sotheby's experts, NWA 16788 is approximately 70% larger than any other known Martian meteorite ever recovered on Earth. 'Pieces of Mars are unbelievably rare: of the more than 77,000 officially recognized meteorites, only 400 are Martian meteorites,' the lot description states. As quoted by CNN, Cassandra Hatton, the vice chairman of science and natural history at Sotheby's, stated that 'weathered by its journey through space and time, its immense size and unmistakable red color sets it apart as a once-in-a-generation find.' 'This remarkable meteorite provides a tangible connection to the red planet — our celestial neighbor that has long captured the human imagination,' she added. The rock was put up for sale on Sunday, with bidding closing on Wednesday in New York. Before that, it had been part of a private gallery collection in Arezzo, Italy, and was briefly exhibited at the Italian Space Agency in Rome in 2024. Sotheby's did not disclose the identity of the buyer or previous owner. The largest piece of Mars on Earth is now the most valuable meteorite ever sold at auction after it achieved $5.3 million in the Natural History sale during Sotheby's Geek Week. #AuctionUpdate The auction continues LIVE from #SothebysNewYork: All meteorites discovered in the northwestern region of the African continent are designated with the prefix 'NWA' (short for Northwest Africa) followed by a unique identification number. Another notable Martian meteorite, NWA 7034 — nicknamed 'Black Beauty' — was discovered in 2011 in Morocco. Weighing around 320 grams, it contains a significantly higher water content than other Martian samples, with some components dating back over 4.4 billion years.
