Largest Martian meteorite on Earth could fetch millions at New York auction
Sotheby's reported NWS 16788 is one of only 400 officially classified Mars meteorites in the world.
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NEW YORK – The largest-known piece of Mars to be found on Earth will be up for bid and could be sold for up to $4 million at auction.
Sotheby's is hosting a natural history auction Wednesday, with the meteorite joining ancient fossils, dinosaur skeletons and unique sandstone formations among items up for bid.
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Photo of NWA 16788, the largest Martian meteorite to be found on Earth.
(Courtesy of Sotheby's / FOX Weather)
The Martian meteorite, called NWA 16788, was discovered in Niger in 2023, according to the The Meteoritical Society at the Lunar and Planetary Institute.
A meteorite hunter found the Martian rock and sent a piece of it to Shanghai Astronomy Museum for identification.
Meteorites are pieces of space rock called meteoroids that survived the trip from space down to the Earth's surface, according to NASA.
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Close-up photo of the surface of NWA 16788, which is up for auction on July 16.
(Courtesy of Sotheby's / FOX Weather)
The reddish-colored meteorite weighs 54 pounds, Sotheby's reported.
Bids for the space rock will start at $1.5 million, but Sotheby's estimates the meteorite could sell for between $2 million and $4 million.
"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," said Cassandra Hatton, vice chairman of Science & Natural History at Sotheby’s. "This remarkable meteorite provides a tangible connection to the red planet— our celestial neighbor that has long captured the human imagination."
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Photo shows the divots and craters of NWA 16788, which is up for auction on July 16.
(Courtesy of Sotheby's / FOX Weather)
NASA estimates that only 0.2% of meteorites that land on Earth come from Mars and the Moon. The rest come from asteroids.
Sotheby's reported NWS 16788 is one of only 400 officially classified Mars meteorites in the world.