Largest Mars Rock Ever Found on Earth Just Sold – The Price Will Shock You!

 Sotheby's
A glimpse of the largest piece of Mars ever discovered on Earth. YouTube Screengrab/ Sotheby's

The largest piece of Mars ever discovered on Earth, an "unbelievably rare" piece, was sold for $4.3 million (£3.2 million) on Wednesday, July 16, at an auction in New York.

According to Sotheby's, the meteorite, designated NWA 16788, is approximately 15 inches (38.1 cm) long and weighs 54 pounds (24.5 kg).

The auction house said that it was found in a remote area of Niger in November 2023 and is 70% bigger than the next largest piece of recovered Mars.

The rock fragments left over after an asteroid or comet travels through Earth's atmosphere are known as meteorites.

The reddish-brown meteorite rock was described as "unbelievably rare" by Sotheby's auction house. Only about 400 Martian meteorites have ever been found on Earth.

Cassandra Hatton, vice-chairman of science and natural history at Sotheby's, said in a video, "This is the largest piece of Mars on planet Earth. The odds of this getting from there to here are astronomically small."

"Remember that approximately 70% of Earth's surface is covered in water. So we're incredibly lucky that this landed on dry land instead of the middle of the ocean where we could actually find it," Hatton added in the clip, which was shared online.

Since details of the sale will be kept confidential, it is still unknown where the meteorite will end up.

According to Sotheby's, additional taxes and fees increased the rock's total price to roughly $5.3 million.

A late Jurassic Ceratosaurus skeleton brought $26 million at the Wednesday auction, which included over 100 items, while a Pachycephalosaurus skull brought $1.4 million.

Related topics : Asteroid
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