New York City recently hosted an auction of rare geological and archaeological objects, featuring the largest piece of Mars ever found which was sold for over $5 million.<\/p>\n
However, it was a rare young dinosaur skeleton which actually stole the show when it fetched more than $30 million in a bidding frenzy.<\/p>\n
The largest Martian meteorite rock on Earth<\/p>\n
The 54-pound (25-kilogram) rock, officially named NWA 16788 was sold for approximately $5.3 million, including fees and costs, making it the most valuable meteorite ever auctioned.<\/p>\n
The rock was discovered in the Sahara Desert<\/a>, Niger by a meteorite hunter in November 2023, after it was blown off the surface of Mars by a massive asteroid strike, according to Sotheby’s report, cited by AP.<\/p>\n The red, brown and gray meteorite is about 70% larger than the next largest piece of Mars found on Earth and represents nearly 7% of all the Martian pieces currently on this planet, AP reported.<\/p>\n Cassandra Hatton, vice chairman for science and natural history at Sotheby\u2019s highlighted the rarity of the find, noting that only 400 Martian meteorites out of the more than 77,000 officially recognized meteorites<\/a> found on Earth are Martian.<\/p>\n \u201cThis Martian meteorite is the largest piece of Mars we have ever found by a long shot,\u201d Hatton said. \u201cSo it\u2019s more than double the size of what we previously thought was the largest piece of Mars.\u201d<\/p>\n The star of the auction<\/p>\n Stealing the show was a rare young dinosaur skeleton that fetched an astounding $30.5 million, including fees and costs after a six minutes bidding war among six interested participants.<\/p>\n