THE largest chunk of Mars ever found on Earth could sell for up to £2.9million ($4million) in a Sotheby’s auction later this month.
Believed to have crashed here as a meteorite, the Martian rock weighs in at 24.67 kilograms (54.39 pounds).
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That’s about 70 per cent larger than the previous record-holder – the 14.51kg Taoudenni 002 meteorite found in Mali back in 2021.
Of the more than 77,000 officially recognised meteorites on Earth, fewer than 400 originate from Mars.
That makes the rock a particularly rare find.
Officially named NWA-16788, the specimen was discovered by a meteorite hunter in November 2023.
Somewhere in the sparsely populated Agadez region of Niger, an area better known for its dinosaur fossils than its meteorites, the unnamed explorer found the lump of rock.
The Shanghai Astronomy Museum has confirmed the rock’s Martian identity based on a small sample sent there.
The meteorite “shows minimal terrestrial weathering, indicating that its physical and chemical makeup have not been significantly altered since its arrival in the Sahara Desert,” Sotheby’s said in its listing.
“In other words, NWA-16788 is likely a relative newcomer here on Earth, having fallen from outer space rather recently.”
Meteorites – a space rock that fails to burn up on entry through Earth’s atmosphere – frequently fall to Earth.
Although must are small and land unnoticed, often in the oceans.
It’s thought the rock started its journey to our blue dot when an asteroid crashed into Mars and sent debris flying into space.
However, some scientists question whether such a rare specimen should be up for sale.
“It would be a shame if it disappeared into the vault of an oligarch,” paleontologist Steve Brusatte from the University of Edinburgh told Jack Guy at CNN.
“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.”
Planetary scientist Julia Cartwright, from the University of Leicester told CNN she hoped that the rock may still be used for science anyway.
“The scientific interest will remain,” she said.
“The new owner may be very interested in learning from it, so we may still gather lots of science from this.”
Prior to landing at Sotheby’s, the meteorite was show off to the public at an exhibition at the Italian Space Agency in Rome in 2024, and in a private gallery in Arezzo, Tuscany.
The Sotheby’s auction will begin on 16 July at 14:00 UTC.
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Mars facts
Here’s what you need to know about the red planet…
- Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun
- It is named after the Roman god of war
- The landmass of Mars is very similar to Earth but due to the difference in gravity you could jump three times higher there than you can here
- Mars is mountainous and hosts the tallest mountain known in the Solar System called Olympus Mons, which is three times higher than Everest
- Mars is considered to be the second most habitable planet after Earth
- It takes the planet 687 Earth days to orbit the Sun
- The planet has a diameter of 4,212 miles, and has an average distance from Earth of 140 million miles
- Martian temperatures can vary wildly, reaching as high as 70F/20C or as low as -225F/-153C
