Martian meteorite sells for record $5.3 million at Sotheby's
NEW YORK (Reuters) -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."
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.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
NASA says 20% of workforce to depart space agency
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -About 20% of the employees at the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration are set to depart the space agency, a NASA spokesperson said on Friday. Around 3,870 individuals are expected to depart, but that number may change in the coming days and weeks, the spokesperson said, adding that the remaining number of employees at the agency would be around 14,000. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Peru's guano coastal birds face crisis as population drops over 75%, scientists say
Peru's guano coastal birds face crisis as population drops over 75%, scientists say By Marco Aquino LIMA (Reuters) -Scientists along Peru's central Pacific coast are sounding the alarm that more action is needed to protect seabirds, sea lions, and penguins as climate change, disease, and overfishing threaten their survival. Research shows the number of guano birds has dropped by more than three-quarters in the past three years to around 500,000, according to local biologists, down from a population of 4 million in 2022. These black-and-white coastal birds form an important part of Peruvian wildlife, producing large quantities of excrement used as a natural fertilizer. "We are very alarmed by this sharp decline," said Susana Cardenas, director of the Environmental Sustainability Center at Peru's Cayetano Heredia University in an interview with Reuters. She monitors marine life at the Punta San Juan reserve roughly 530 kilometers south of Lima. Breeding centers like the one Cardenas runs are helping to protect bird populations that she described as "golden egg-laying hens" because they were so fragile, yet valuable. Peru's state agency AgroRural counted 529,400 guano seabirds in January, spread across 22 islands and eight coastal points, that include cormorants, boobies and pelicans. That figure is down from an average of 4 million registered in recent decades by Peru's Agriculture Ministry. Scientists said that the sharp decline began with an outbreak of avian flu in 2022 that killed tens of thousands of birds, penguins, and sea lions. The El Nino weather phenomenon disrupted marine ecosystems the following year, and forced birds to migrate. Then in 2024, overfishing of anchoveta - a primary food source from the anchovy fish family - further depleted populations. At Punta San Juan, only 200,000 guano birds, 2,500 Humboldt penguins, and 11,000 sea lions remain, the research center found. The decline in bird numbers is hurting the guano fertilizer harvest, important for the local farming industry. This nutrient-rich fertilizer is collected every five years under government supervision and exported in controlled quantities. The last collection was in 2024, but with fewer birds, the "sustainability of this activity will be at risk," Cardenas added. Peru's Agriculture Ministry did not respond to a request for comment on the bird populations' decline. In April, authorities allowed the biggest catch quota in seven years of anchoveta, used in fishmeal, citing larger populations. But biologists said that the anchoveta populations were still not large enough to sustain both fishing and the bird populations that depend on them. Sea lions and penguins that live in colonies along the Pacific coasts of Peru and Chile were also at risk from dwindling food supplies caused by changing weather patterns and overfishing. Humboldt penguins could be extinct in 100 years, Cardenas said, if protections failed to increase. "Their population is trending downward, especially in protected areas where growth is most needed." Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Exclusive-China's Sciwind is in talks to license weight-loss drug in US, CEO says
By Andrew Silver HANGZHOU (Reuters) -China's Sciwind Biosciences is in talks with a U.S. company interested in licensing its experimental weight-loss drug for American patients, the drugmaker's chief executive told Reuters. Overweight patients treated with Sciwind's ecnoglutide drug lost an average of 10% to 15% of their body weight, roughly in line with results from Novo Nordisk's top-selling obesity treatment Wegovy, according to a late-stage study published in medical journal The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology in June. 'We also hope we are able to successfully license out, and they will apply for approval in the U.S.,' Sciwind Biosciences CEO Pan Hai said, declining to identify the firm or disclose financial terms under discussion. Reuters is the first to report on the potential U.S. licensing deal. Pan said its potential partner hoped to gain U.S. marketing approval to prescribe ecnoglutide for multiple medical conditions and would carry out further clinical development. The talks are not yet at the stage of discussing a detailed contract, he added. Sciwind is hoping the partner could use clinical data accumulated in China and Australia to accelerate the development. Pan expects it would take at least three years for a U.S. partner to bring Sciwind's drug to market in the United States, and said the FDA might require a bridging study to compare ecnoglutide's pharmacokinetics - how it moves through the body - among different patient populations. Ecnoglutide is administered as a once-weekly injection. It belongs to a class of drugs called GLP-1 receptor agonists, which work by helping control blood sugar levels and triggering a feeling of fullness. Novo's Wegovy and Eli Lilly and Co's Zepbound lead the U.S. market for weight-loss drugs, but their relatively high prices leave room for new competitors to offer cheaper alternatives. Sciwind has applied to sell ecnoglutide in China for weight management and the treatment of type II diabetes. Other approved weight loss medicines in China also include drugs from Novo, Lilly and other drugmakers. Pan said he could not give an estimated time of approval. The company is also in talks to license the drug to partners for other markets, including in Latin America and the Middle East. Pricing in China would be in line with other approved competitors, Pan said, adding the company would not engage in a "price war" there. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
