Latest news with #spaceRocks
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Science
- Daily Mail
Largest Martian meteorite EVER found on Earth to go on sale this week: Huge 25kg rock that travelled 140 million miles to Earth could fetch a whopping £3 MILLION at auction
If it ever feels like your living room could use a truly out-of-this-world centrepiece, this might be the perfect purchase. The largest Martian meteorite ever found on Earth is set to go on sale this week. The whopping 25-kilogram rock, named NWA 16788, will be sold at a special natural history-themed auction at Sotheby's in New York this Wednesday. But owning a piece of the red planet comes at an astronomical cost, as this hunk of rock is expected to fetch £1.5-3 million ($2-4 million). With two days before the sale ends, the current bid already stands a staggering £1.2 million ($1.6 million). That sky-high price is a reflection of just how rare and unique this meteorite really is. Measuring 15 by 11 inches by 6 inches (38 by 28 by 15 cm), it is almost 70 per cent larger than any previous asteroid ever found. According to Sotheby's, this represents seven per cent of all Martian material currently on Earth. Martian meteorites make the 140-million-mile journey to Earth after being launched into space by colossal asteroid impacts. Since this process requires such a powerful impact, Martian meteorites are exceptionally rare compared to other types of space rocks. So far, there are only 400 officially confirmed Martian meteorites on Earth compared to 77,000 meteorites of other types. This piece of rock is so large that astronomers believe there are only 19 craters on Mars large enough to have launched it out of orbit. Cassandra Hatton, vice chairman for science and natural history at Sotheby's, says: 'This Martian meteorite is the largest piece of Mars we have ever found by a long shot. 'So it's more than double the size of what we previously thought was the largest piece of Mars.' NWA 16788 was found by a meteorite hunter in Niger in 2023, according to Sotheby's. The rock's glassy-smooth surface suggested it had been burned by the intense heat created as it passed through the atmosphere. 'So that was their first clue that this wasn't just some big rock on the ground,' Ms Hatton says. Based on the lack of surface weathering, Sotheby's also believes that it had not been in the desert very long, making it a relative newcomer to Earth. Samples of the rock were then sent to a lab where its chemical composition was compared to analysis done by the NASA Viking Lander in 1976, confirming it was Martian in origin. This analysis also revealed that a large part of the rock is made up of a type of glass called maskelynite, formed by the intense heat and pressure of an asteroid striking the Martian surface. The rest of the rock's original material is made up of 'olivine-microgabbroic shergottite', a type of Martian rock formed from the slow cooling of Martian magma. Only 5.4 per cent of all Martian asteroids are of the same material, making this an even rarer find. The meteorite was previously on exhibit at the Italian Space Agency in Rome, but Sotheby's did not disclose the owner. This same auction will include the sale of a number of other space rocks, including a 2.5-kilogram sphere of moon rock and shrapnel from a meteor which exploded over Siberia in 1947. This natural history-themed auction will also see the sale of a juvenile Ceratosaurus fossil, expected to sell for $3-4.5 million ($4-6 million) The sale's flagship item is the mounted fossil skeleton of a juvenile Ceratosaurus. Measuring nearly 11 feet (three metres) long and standing at six feet (two metres) tall, this fierce predator lived 154-149 million years ago in the late Jurassic period. Ceratosaurus dinosaurs were bipeds with short arms that appeared similar to the Tyrannosaurus rex, but smaller. The juvenile Ceratosaurus nasicornis skeleton was found in 1996 near Laramie, Wyoming, at Bone Cabin Quarry, a gold mine for dinosaur bones. Specialists assembled nearly 140 fossil bones with some sculpted materials to recreate the skeleton and mounted it so it's ready to exhibit, Sotheby's says, and is expected to fetch between $3-4.5 million ($4-6 million).
Yahoo
06-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
A Rare Rock from Another Planet Is Up for Auction — and It's Expected to Sell for This Many Millions
The largest rock from Mars ever found on Earth is going up for auction at Sotheby's on July 16 The meteorite, known as NWA 16788, weighs about 54 lbs. and is approximately 15 inches at its widest point There are only about 400 Martian rocks on Earth at this timeThe largest piece of Mars rock on Earth is scheduled to go up for auction — and it may sell for as much as $4 million. Martian Meteorite NWA 16788 is set to be auctioned by Sotheby's on July 16, per a release on the famous auction house's website. The meteorite weighs about 54 lbs. and is approximately 15 inches across at its widest section, per the release. The house also stated that the 'incredibly rare discovery' was ejected from the surface of Mars after a 'massive asteroid strike' and eventually landed 140 million miles away in the Sahara Desert. The rock was discovered on Nov. 16, 2023, by a meteorite hunter in a remote part of Niger in West Africa. It is about 70% larger than the next biggest piece of Mars rock on Earth, per Sotheby's. Sotheby's also stated that there are only about 400 known Mars rocks on Earth, which makes up less than 1% of all known space rocks on our planet. 'NWA 16788 shows minimal terrestrial weathering, indicating that its physical and chemical makeup have not been significantly altered since its arrival in the Sahara Desert,' read the release. 'In other words, NWA 16788 is likely a relative newcomer here on Earth, having fallen from outer space rather recently.' The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now! Steve Brusatte, a professor of paleontology and evolution at Scotland's University of Edinburgh, told CNN that the fact that the Mars rock is being sold — as opposed to donated to science — isn't necessarily a good thing. 'It would be a shame if it disappeared into the vault of an oligarch. It belongs in a museum, where it can be studied, and where it can be enjoyed by children and families and the public at large,' Brusatte said to the outlet. However, other experts said private collecting of such objects can actually benefit scientific research overall. 'Ultimately, if there was no market for searching, collecting and selling meteorites, we would not have anywhere near as many in our collections — and this drives the science!' Julia Cartwright, a planetary scientist and Independent Research Fellow at the University of Leicester, told CNN. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. 'If samples weren't being found, we would not have anywhere near as much to study, and so wouldn't know as much as we do,' she added. A meteorite specifically describes a piece of rock that has survived a 'trip' through Earth's atmosphere and has landed intact on the surface of the Earth, per NASA. They differ from meteoroids, which are defined as rocks still in space, as well as meteors, which describe rocks that enter the atmosphere at a high speed and burn up on arrival — sometimes creating what are known as 'shooting stars.' Read the original article on People
