Latest news with #MartianMeteorite
News.com.au
an hour ago
- Science
- News.com.au
Why this rare Martian rock could fetch up to $9 million at auction
At first glance, it might seem like an ordinary hunk of stone, but this particular rock is poised to fetch upwards of AU$6 million at an upcoming auction. Why would someone invest millions in a rock? Well, this cosmic treasure is far more interesting than it looks. Like some men, this rock is from Mars (crashing Earth's party uninvited is so on brand) and is the largest piece of the red planet ever found on Earth. Sotheby's in New York is set to auction this 25-kilogram Martian Meteorite on 16 July, as part of its natural history-themed sale. The estimated price ranges from $2 million to $4 million USD, equivalent to AU$6 million to AU$9 million. This event is a highlight of Sotheby's 'Geek Week' 2025 series, showcasing 122 fascinating items, including fossils, meteorites, and gem-quality minerals. Officially known as Northwest Africa 16788 (NWA 16788), it's believed to have been ejected from Mars by a colossal asteroid impact. According to Sotheby's, it travelled approximately 225 million kilometres through the cosmos, landed on Earth, and was eventually discovered in the Sahara Desert. A meteorite hunter found the blackened rock in Niger in November 2023. Sotheby's says it's about 70 per cent larger than the next biggest known Martian specimen and represents nearly 7 per cent of all Martian material ever found on Earth. 'This Martian meteorite is the largest piece of Mars we have ever found by a long shot,' said Cassandra Hatton, vice chairman for science and natural history at Sotheby's. 'So it's more than double the size of what we previously thought was the largest piece of Mars.' The meteorite measures nearly 37.5 centimetres by 27.9 centimetres by 15.2 centimetres and weighs 24.67 kilograms. Its glassy outer layer formed from the extreme heat it experienced while falling through Earth's atmosphere. A small sample was sent to a specialised lab for analysis, which confirmed its Martian origin. Scientists matched its unique chemical composition with rocks analysed by NASA's Viking landers, which touched down on Mars in 1976. 'That was their first clue that this wasn't just some big rock on the ground,' Hatton told the Associated Press. Sotheby's classifies the meteorite as a type of volcanic rock formed from the slow cooling of Martian magma. The specimen has a rough texture and contains the common rock-forming minerals pyroxene and olivine. With only about 400 known Martian meteorites among over 77,000 officially recognised meteorites on Earth, this find is exceptionally rare. 'It really is quite an impressive specimen,' Hatton said. Background information released by Sotheby's notes that the meteorite was previously exhibited at the Italian Space Agency in Rome. However, the auction house has not disclosed its current owner. The exact timing of the meteorite's arrival on Earth remains uncertain, though tests suggest it likely fell in recent years. Sotheby's notes that collectors often share such specimens with museums or lend them to institutions, but some scientists worry that private sales might limit research access to these rare planetary materials. The auction will also feature a nearly complete juvenile Ceratosaurus skeleton, discovered in Wyoming in 1996. This dinosaur, standing almost two metres tall and over three metres long, is also expected to sell for $6 million to $9 million.
Gizmodo
2 days ago
- Science
- Gizmodo
Biggest Martian Meteorite Ever Found Could Fetch $4 Million at Auction
One lucky bidder will soon fork over millions of dollars to take home NWA 16788, a 54-pound (24-kilogram) Martian meteorite. This space rock, discovered in the Sahara Desert in 2023, is the largest chunk of the Red Planet ever found on Earth. Sotheby's, a New York-based auction house, estimates the meteorite could fetch up to $4 million during its natural history sale on Wednesday, July 16. Bidding starts at a cool $1.9 million. Sotheby's describes NWA 16788 as an 'incredibly rare discovery' that traveled 140 million miles (225 million kilometers) through space before plunging into Earth's atmosphere and crash-landing in the desert. Based on its composition, scientists believe a powerful asteroid impact dislodged this meteorite from the surface of Mars. 'NWA 16788 is a discovery of extraordinary significance—the largest Martian meteorite ever found on Earth, and the most valuable of its kind ever offered at auction,' Cassandra Hatton, vice chairman for science and natural history at Sotheby's, said in a statement. 'This remarkable meteorite provides a tangible connection to the red planet—our celestial neighbor that has long captured the human imagination.' The reddish-brown boulder is roughly 70% bigger than the next-largest piece of Mars found on Earth, which makes it a singular find among an incredibly rare class of geologic specimens. According to Sotheby's, only 400 of the more than 77,000 officially recognized meteorites come from Mars. The auction house estimates that this single rock represents roughly 6.5% of the total mass of all known Martian material on Earth. A meteorite hunter discovered NWA 16788 exactly two years before its auction date while searching for space rocks in the Kefkaf region of Niger, according to The Meteorological Society. The organization documented its physical characteristics as a 'grey to brown exterior surface partially covered with a grey to brownish fusion crust.' A fusion crust is a key feature that distinguishes meteorites from Earth rocks. This dark, glossy exterior forms when the meteorite plummets through our planet's atmosphere at incredibly high speeds. The force of its descent compresses and heats the air in its path, causing its exterior to melt and ablate. When the meteorite slows down enough to stop melting, the last melt cools to create a glassy coating. According to Sotheby's, NWA 16788's surface also bears regmaglypts—shallow depressions probably created by small vortices of hot gas carrying droplets of molten meteorite that erode parts of the surface as the space rock falls to Earth. Aside from these markings, NWA 16788 shows minimal signs of terrestrial weathering, indicating that it probably arrived on our planet relatively recently, Sotheby's explains. Following its discovery, The Shanghai Astronomy Museum received a small piece of the meteorite for identification, classifying it as a shergottite, the most abundant type of Martian meteorite found on Earth. These igneous rocks form from volcanic activity on Mars, solidifying from molten magma. It may seem unusual to put this remarkable specimen up for sale rather than displaying it in a museum. Before it arrived at Sotheby's, the Italian Space Agency in Rome and a private gallery in Arezzo publicly exhibited NWA 16788, Tuscany, according to Sotheby's. Some experts aren't thrilled to see it stashed away in someone's personal collection. '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,' Steve Brusatte, a professor of paleontology and evolution at Scotland's University of Edinburgh, told CNN. Julia Cartwright, a planetary scientist and independent research fellow at the University of Leicester, England, sees things differently. '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!' she told CNN. No matter where it ends up, NWA 16788 will always serve as a reminder of the strange and extraordinary ways Earth interacts with other planets in the solar system. Human exploration of Mars may still be a long way off, but once in a while, the cosmos brings a piece of the Red Planet to us, helping scientists unravel the mysteries of our celestial neighbor.
Daily Mail
2 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).
CTV News
3 days ago
- Science
- CTV News
The biggest piece of Mars on Earth is going up for auction in New York
A Martian meteorite, weighing 54.388 lbs. (24.67 kg), said to be the largest piece of Mars on Earth, estimated at $2 - 4 million, is displayed at Sotheby's, in New York, Wednesday, July 9, 2025, part of their Geek Week auction, July 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) NEW YORK — For sale: A 54-pound (25-kilogram) rock. Estimated auction price: US$2 million to $4 million. Why so expensive? It's the largest piece of Mars ever found on Earth. Sotheby's in New York will be auctioning what's known as NWA 16788 on Wednesday as part of a natural history-themed sale that also includes a juvenile Ceratosaurus dinosaur skeleton that's more than six feet (two metres) tall and nearly 11 feet (three metres) long. According to the auction house, the meteorite is believed to have been blown off the surface of Mars by a massive asteroid strike before traveling 140 million miles (225 million kilometres) to Earth, where it crashed into the Sahara. A meteorite hunter found it in Niger in November 2023, Sotheby's says. The red, brown and gray hunk is about 70 per cent larger than the next largest piece of Mars found on Earth and represents nearly seven per cent of all the Martian material currently on this planet, Sotheby's says. It measures nearly 15 inches by 11 inches by six inches (375 millimetres by 279 millimetres by 152 millimetres). 'This Martian meteorite is the largest piece of Mars we have ever found by a long shot,' Cassandra Hatton, vice chairman for science and natural history at Sotheby's, said in an interview. 'So it's more than double the size of what we previously thought was the largest piece of Mars.' It is also a rare find. There are only 400 Martian meteorites out of the more than 77,000 officially recognized meteorites found on Earth, Sotheby's says. Hatton said a small piece of the red planet remnant was removed and sent to a specialized lab that confirmed it is from Mars. It was compared with the distinct chemical composition of Martian meteorites discovered during the Viking space probe that landed on Mars in 1976, she said. The examination found that it is an 'olivine-microgabbroic shergottite,' a type of Martian rock formed from the slow cooling of Martian magma. It has a course-grained texture and contains the minerals pyroxene and olivine, Sotheby's says. It also has a glassy surface, likely due to the high heat that burned it when it fell through Earth's atmosphere, Hatton said. 'So that was their first clue that this wasn't just some big rock on the ground,' she said. The meteorite previously was on exhibit at the Italian Space Agency in Rome. Sotheby's did not disclose the owner. It's not clear exactly when the meteorite hit Earth, but testing shows it probably happened in recent years, Sotheby's said. 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. The skeleton is believed to be from the late Jurassic period, about 150 million years ago, Sotheby's says. It's auction estimate is $4 million to $6 million. Ceratosaurus dinosaurs were bipeds with short arms that appear similar to the Tyrannosaurus rex, but smaller. Ceratosaurus dinosaurs could grow up to 25 feet (7.6 metres) long, while the Tyrannosaurs rex could be 40 feet (12 metres) long. The skeleton was acquired last year by Fossilogic, a Utah-based fossil preparation and mounting company. Wednesday's auction is part of Sotheby's Geek Week 2025 and features 122 items, including other meteorites, fossils and gem-quality minerals. Collins reported from Hartford, Connecticut. Dave Collins And Joseph B. Frederick, The Associated Press
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Want to own a huge chunk of Mars? It'll likely cost you up to $4 million
A bidder here on Earth will soon shell out a lot of green for a piece of the red planet as Sotheby's puts a Martian meteorite up for auction. NWA 16788, the largest piece of Mars on Earth, is expected to fetch up to $4 million during the July 16 auction in New York City, according to Sotheby's. Pieces of Mars found on Earth are rare. According to the auction house, just 400 of the more than 77,000 officially recognized meteorites found on Earth — or about 0.6% — are from Mars. The meteorite represents approximately 6.5% of all Martian material currently known on Earth. Meteorites come from meteors, space rocks that enter Earth's atmosphere. Most meteors burn up as they fall toward Earth, but the ones that survive the trip through Earth's atmosphere are considered meteorites. The chunk of Martian rock being auctioned off by Sotheby's was likely dislodged from the planet by an asteroid strike. NWA 16788 traveled 140 million miles through space before it crashed in the Sahara Desert, where it was found in Niger's remote Agadez Region in 2023, according to Sotheby's. "The odds of this getting from there to here are astronomically small," Cassandra Hatton, Sotheby's vice chairman of science and natural history, said in an auction house video. The meteorite weighs just over 54 pounds, which makes it the largest meteorite from Mars, but not the largest meteorite ever found. According to NASA, a meteorite originally weighing over 100 tons once fell to Namibia. It's believed that NWA 16788 is a "relative newcomer here on Earth, having fallen from outer space rather recently," Sotheby's said in its auction listing. The meteorite is on public view at Sotheby's New York galleries until July 15. "This isn't just a miraculous find, but a massive dataset that can help us unlock the secrets of our neighbor, the red planet," Hatton said in the auction house video. Sotheby's regularly auctions meteorites. "Specimens of the Moon and Mars are among the greatest of rarities on our planet — as every bit of both would fit in the cargo hold of a large SUV," the auction house wrote in a 2022 collector's guide. Social media content creator shows his hustle Udemy Is Powering Enterprise AI Transformation Through Skills Surveillance video shows Israeli strike that killed 10 children at Gaza clinic
