Weighing more than 54 pounds, this bit of space debris is one of just 400 known Martian meteorites — and it's expected to fetch up to $4 million at auction.
Sotheby’sThe large meteorite, dubbed NWA 16788.
Every now and then, a piece of Mars comes crashing down on Earth, but in 2023, an exceptionally large Martian meteorite fell out of the sky and landed in Niger. This chunk, the largest meteorite from Mars ever found on Earth, was given the name NWA 16788 — and now it’s going to auction.
It is expected to fetch up to $4 million, according to Sotheby’s, which is selling the meteorite as part of its annual Natural History Auction on July 16.
Discovering The Largest Known Martian Meteorite
Sotheby’sThe course-grained texture of the meteorite, which is primarily composed of pyroxene, maskelynite, and olivine.
A meteorite is a piece of space debris that has survived the journey through Earth’s atmosphere and landed either on the surface or in the ocean. Amateur meteorite hunters across the globe track down these bits of rock.
One such hunter discovered this large chunk on July 16, 2023, in the Kefkaf region of Niger. A small piece of the rock was then sent to the Shanghai Astronomy Museum for identification, where it was confirmed to be of Martian origin. Its given name, NWA 16788, stands for “Northwest Africa 16788.”
Sotheby’sThe maskelynite was formed by a great amount of heat and pressure during an asteroid collision.
This alone makes it a rare find. According to Sotheby’s, of more than 77,000 officially recognized meteorites ever found on Earth, only 400 are confirmed to be of Martian origin. NWA 16788 weighs more than 54 pounds, making it 70 percent larger than the next largest piece of Mars discovered on our planet. This meteorite alone comprises 6.5 percent of all currently known Martian material on Earth.
“Why is this scientifically important? Every other sample we have of the Martian surface is quite small,” said Cassandra Hatton, the vice chairman of science and natural history at Sotheby’s. “I mean, this is nearly double the size of what we previously thought was the biggest piece of Mars on Earth. This isn’t just a miraculous find, but a massive data set that can help us unlock the secrets of our neighbor, the red planet.”
Scientific Observations Of The Meteorite Reveal Its Uniqueness
Sotheby’sMartian meteorites are exceptionally rare.
Size alone doesn’t make this meteorite scientifically fascinating, though. As Sotheby’s notes, roughly 21.2 percent of the meteorite’s surface is made of a glass known as maskelynite, which was produced after an asteroid collided with the Martian surface. The impact of that collision was so intense that it metamorphosed the original minerals in the rock, heating them until they became glass.
Researchers estimate, based on the severity of an impact that would launch Martian material from the planet’s surface to Earth, that there are only around 19 craters large enough to be potential origin points for Martian meteorites.
“That chunk had to be loose enough to break off, and then it had to get on the right trajectory to travel 140 million miles to Earth, and then it had to land in a spot where someone could find it,” Hatton told Gothamist. “And then we were lucky enough that someone came by who knew enough about meteorites to recognize that it wasn’t just a big rock.”
Sotheby’sSotheby’s estimates the value of the meteorite to be between $2 million and $4 million.
The technical classification of NWA 16788 is an olivine-microgabbroic shergottite. In layman’s terms, this essentially means it was formed by slowly cooling Martian magma and has a course-grained texture mainly composed of pyroxene, maskelynite, and olivine. This is another rare attribute of the meteorite, as only 5.4 percent of Martian meteorites are classified as gabbroic or microgabbroic.
Sotheby’s additionally suggested that the study of this meteorite could potentially lead to the revision of the Martian meteorite classification system.
NWA 16788 is set to go to auction on July 16, two years after it was found, alongside objects that went to space with Buzz Aldrin and one of the 50 original Apple-1 computers hand-built by Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs in 1976.
After reading about this rare Martian meteorite, go inside the evidence that could support the idea of life on Mars. Then, dive deeper into humanity’s search for life on the red planet.
