The largest Martian rock ever found on Earth, weighing 25 kilograms with an estimated price of two to four million dollars, will be auctioned in New York.
Sotheby’s auction house will put the rock named “NWA 16788” up for auction on Wednesday during a natural history themed event.
Additionally, a Ceratosaurus skeleton measuring two meters in height and three meters in length will also be offered for sale at the auction.
This meteorite, which displays red, brown, and gray colors, is approximately 70 percent larger than the previous largest specimen found on Earth.
According to Cassandra Hatton, Vice President of Science and Natural History at Sotheby’s auction house, this rock is more than twice the size of what was previously considered the largest piece of Mars on Earth.
Among more than 77,000 meteorites found on Earth, only 400 are Martian meteorites, making this piece extremely rare.
Studies have shown that this rock is an “olivine-microgabbroic shergottite” formed from the slow cooling of Martian magma and was discovered in Niger in November 2023.
