Largest Martian rock ever found on Earth fetches record price

In an auction held on July 16 by Sotheby's in New York (USA), a 25kg meteorite originating from Mars was sold for more than 5.3 million USD (including related costs), thereby becoming the most expensive meteorite ever traded at an auction.

This meteorite with code NWA 16788 was discovered by a meteorite hunter in November 2023 in the Sahara desert (area of Niger).

According to the prestigious auction house Sotheby's, NWA 16788 was thrown off the surface of Mars after a giant meteorite collision, traveling a distance of 225 million km before falling to Earth.

NWA 16788 is 1.7 times heavier than the second-largest Martian meteorite ever discovered and accounts for nearly 7% of the total mass of Martian rocks ever collected by humans on Earth.

Sotheby's says there are only about 400 recognized Martian meteorites out of more than 77,000 meteorites ever found on Earth.

NWA 16788 is nearly 38cm long, 28cm wide and about 15cm high. Its outer surface has a shiny glassy shell - a feature formed when a meteorite burns up due to intense friction in the Earth's atmosphere.

A small portion of NWA 16788 was separated and sent to a specialized laboratory.

Here, scientists determined the Martian origin of the sample by comparing its chemical composition with samples collected by the Viking probes on Mars in 1976.

Analysis results showed that this is olivine-micro gabbroic shergottite - a volcanic rock formed from slowly cooled lava, containing the minerals olivine and pyroxene./.

(TTXVN/Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/khoi-da-sao-hoa-lon-nhat-tung-tim-thay-tren-trai-dat-dat-muc-gia-ky-luc-post1050248.vnp