Biggest piece of Mars on Earth is going up for auction in New York, could be sold for whopping Rs...

A rare meteorite from Mars, the largest of its kind ever found on Planet Earth, is set to be auctioned in New York, US, next week. Known as NWA 16788, the pristine rock will go under the hammer at the city's iconic Sotheby's auction house. The meteorite weighs more than 25 kilograms and is 15 inches in width. It is about 70 percent larger than any other piece of Mars ever found on our planet. It was discovered in 2023 in the African nation Niger's remote Agadez region after traveling roughly 225 million miles through space.

Martian meteorites quite rare
According to Sotheby's, Martian meteorites are extremely rare, forming just about 0.6 percent of the 77,000 officially-recognised meteorites found on Earth. Only 400 such rocks are known to be present on the Blue Planet, and the specimen going up for auction makes up about 6.5 percent of all Martian material ever discovered. Scientists believe this particular meteorite likely originated from a major asteroid strike that ejected debris from Mars into the space. One of those fragments eventually made its way to Earth and crashed into the Sahara Desert.

Bidders going all out
Cassandra Hatton, Sotheby's vice-chairman of science and natural history, said in a video statement, "This isn't just a miraculous find, but a massive dataset that can help us unlock the secrets of our neighbour, the Red Planet." She added that the "odds of this getting from there to here are astronomically small." The piece could reportedly be auctioned for as high as USD 4 million (over Rs 33 crore), with bids already touching USD 1.6 million (or approximately Rs 13 crore) days ahead of the auction. The meteorite is currently on public view at Sotheby's New York galleries until July 15. The Natural History auction on July 16 will also feature ancient fossils, dinosaur skeletons, and other rare geological structures.