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<\/p>\nIf it ever feels like your living room could use a truly out-of-this-world centrepiece, this might be the perfect purchase.<\/p>\n
The largest Martian meteorite ever found on Earth is set to go on sale this week.<\/p>\n
The whopping 25-kilogram rock, named NWA 16788, will be sold at a special natural history-themed auction at Sotheby’s in New York this Wednesday.<\/p>\n
But owning a piece of the red planet comes at an astronomical cost, as this hunk of rock is expected to fetch \u00a31.5-3 million ($2-4 million).<\/p>\n
With two days before the sale ends, the current bid already stands a staggering \u00a31.2 million ($1.6 million).<\/p>\n
That sky-high price is a reflection of just how rare and unique this meteorite really is.<\/p>\n
Measuring 15 by 11 inches by 6 inches (38 by 28 by 15 cm), it is almost 70 per cent larger than any previous asteroid ever found.<\/p>\n
According to Sotheby’s, this represents seven per cent of all Martian material currently on Earth.<\/p>\n
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The largest Martian meteorite on Earth (pictured) will go on sale at Sotheby’s in New York later this week\u00a0<\/p>\n
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The enormous space rock is expected to fetch\u00a0\u00a31.5-3 million ($2-4 million) at auction on Wednesday<\/p>\n
Martian meteorites make the 140-million-mile journey to Earth after being launched into space by colossal asteroid impacts.<\/p>\n
Since this process requires such a powerful impact, Martian meteorites are exceptionally rare compared to other types of space rocks.<\/p>\n
So far, there are only 400 officially confirmed Martian meteorites on Earth compared to 77,000 meteorites of other types.<\/p>\n
This piece of rock is so large that astronomers believe there are only 19 craters on Mars large enough to have launched it out of orbit.<\/p>\n
Cassandra Hatton, vice chairman for science and natural history at Sotheby’s, says: ‘This Martian meteorite is the largest piece of Mars we have ever found by a long shot.<\/p>\n
‘So it’s more than double the size of what we previously thought was the largest piece of Mars.’<\/p>\n
NWA 16788 was found by a meteorite hunter in Niger in 2023, according to Sotheby’s.<\/p>\n
The rock’s glassy-smooth surface suggested it had been burned by the intense heat created as it passed through the atmosphere.<\/p>\n
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The rock is believed to have been ejected from Mars after a huge asteroid collision sent it hurtling through space on the 140-million mile journey to Earth\u00a0<\/p>\n
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The rock weighs a staggering 25 kilograms, making up almost seven per cent of all Martian material on Earth\u00a0<\/p>\n
‘So that was their first clue that this wasn’t just some big rock on the ground,’ Ms Hatton says.<\/p>\n
Based on the lack of surface weathering, Sotheby’s also believes that it had not been in the desert very long, making it a relative newcomer to Earth.<\/p>\n
Samples of the rock were then sent to a lab where its chemical composition was compared to analysis done by the NASA Viking Lander in 1976, confirming it was Martian in origin.<\/p>\n
This analysis also revealed that a large part of the rock is made up of a type of glass called maskelynite, formed by the intense heat and pressure of an asteroid striking the Martian surface.<\/p>\n
The rest of the rock’s original material is made up of ‘olivine-microgabbroic shergottite’, a type of Martian rock formed from the slow cooling of Martian magma.<\/p>\n
Only 5.4 per cent of all Martian asteroids are of the same material, making this an even rarer find.<\/p>\n
The meteorite was previously on exhibit at the Italian Space Agency in Rome, but Sotheby’s did not disclose the owner.<\/p>\n
This same auction will include the sale of a number of other space rocks, including a 2.5-kilogram sphere of moon rock and shrapnel from a meteor which exploded over Siberia in 1947.<\/p>\n
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The rock’s smooth surface indicates that it was burned by entry into Earth’s atmosphere and had not been on the planet’s surface for long before it was found\u00a0<\/p>\n
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This natural history-themed auction will also see the sale of a juvenile Ceratosaurus fossil, expected to sell for\u00a0$3-4.5 million ($4-6 million)<\/p>\n
The sale’s flagship item is the mounted fossil skeleton of a juvenile Ceratosaurus.<\/p>\n
Measuring nearly 11 feet (three metres) long and standing at six feet (two metres) tall, this fierce predator lived 154-149 million years ago in the late Jurassic period.<\/p>\n
Ceratosaurus dinosaurs were bipeds with short arms that appeared similar to the Tyrannosaurus rex, but smaller.<\/p>\n
The juvenile Ceratosaurus nasicornis skeleton was found in 1996 near Laramie, Wyoming, at Bone Cabin Quarry, a gold mine for dinosaur bones.<\/p>\n
Specialists assembled nearly 140 fossil bones with some sculpted materials to recreate the skeleton and mounted it so it’s ready to exhibit, Sotheby’s says, and is expected to fetch between $3-4.5 million ($4-6 million).<\/p>\n