LARGEST METEORITE EVER FOUND ON EARTH SOLD FOR A WHOPPING $4.3 MILLION IN AUCTION

Even though Mars is 140 million miles away from Earth, a fragment of the Red Planet was found not too far away. Along with the approximately 400 other Martian rocks discovered on Earth, NWA 16788, a meteorite weighing 54 pounds and measuring over 15 inches in length, was discovered in the Sahara Desert in the Agadez region of Nigeria in November 2023. Now, the "unbelievably rare" meteorite brought an incredible $4.3 million at a Sotheby's auction on July 16.

In a recent video that the auction company posted, Cassandra Hatton, vice-chairman of science and natural history at Sotheby's, declared, "This is the largest chunk of Mars on planet Earth." "We are extremely fortunate that this landed on dry land, as water covers about 70% of the Earth's surface." The meteorite's long journey from Mars makes it extremely fortunate. Testing indicates that the blast most likely occurred in recent years, and Sotheby's claims that the meteorite was blown off the surface of Mars by an asteroid hit. According to the auction house's additional analysis, NWA 16788 was a "olivine-microgabbroic shergottite," which is created when Martian magma cools gradually.

The meteorite had a glassy surface in addition to its coarse, gritty texture, which was probably caused by the extreme heat it was surrounded by as it tore through Earth's atmosphere.