A rare piece of Mars, weighing 54 pounds and measuring nearly 15 inches long, has sold for $4.3 million at a New York auction.
The meteorite, known as NWA 16788, is the largest ever found on Earth and was discovered in a remote region of Niger in November 2023.
It is described as “unbelievably rare,” with only about 400 Martian meteorites ever found on Earth.
Cassandra Hatton, vice-chairman of science and natural history at Sotheby’s, noted that the odds of this meteorite landing on dry land instead of water are astronomically small.
With additional taxes and fees, the total price of the rock came out to around $5.3 million.
The same auction featured other significant sales, including a Ceratosaurus skeleton for $26 million and a Pachycephalosaurus skull for $1.4 million.
