Biggest Martian Meteorite Breaks Record in Auction
(MENAFN) The biggest Martian meteorite ever sold set a new auction record, reaching an impressive $5.3 million in the United States, as announced in a statement from Sotheby’s on Wednesday.
This extraordinary meteorite, weighing 24.67 kilograms, is known as Northwest Africa 16788 (NWA 16788).
It is a fragment that broke off Mars following an asteroid impact and was discovered by a meteorite hunter in Niger’s Sahara Desert in November 2023.
Sotheby’s described NWA 16788 as being enveloped in a reddish-brown fusion crust, giving it a distinctive Martian appearance.
“NWA 16788 is covered in a reddish-brown fusion crust, giving it an unmistakable Martian hue,” the statement explained.
Additionally, it features regmaglypts—depressions on the surface caused by the intense heat generated as the meteorite rapidly descended through Earth's atmosphere.
“Regmaglypts, or surface depressions formed by frictional heating during rapid descent through Earth’s atmosphere, are also visible on the surface of the meteorite,” Sotheby’s added.
Experts from Sotheby’s pointed out that NWA 16788 is about 70% larger than any other known Martian meteorite that has ever been retrieved on Earth.
The lot description also highlighted the extreme rarity of Martian meteorites: “Pieces of Mars are unbelievably rare: of the more than 77,000 officially recognized meteorites, only 400 are Martian meteorites.”
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