New York (AP)-For Bikri: A 54-Pound (25 kg) Rock. Estimated auction price: $ 2 million to $ 4 million. why so expensive? It is the largest piece of Mars found on Earth.
Sothabi will be auctioned in New York which is known as NWA 16788 on Wednesday as part of a natural history-theme sales, including a teenage seratosorus dinosaur skeleton that is 6 feet (2 m) long and about 11 feet (3 meters) long.
According to the auction house, meteorite has been blown Mars surface Before traveling 140 million miles (225 million km) on Earth, from a huge asteroid strike, where it crashed in Sahara. A meteorite hunter found it in Niger in November 2023, says Sothabi.
Red, brown and brown hunk is about 70% larger than the next largest piece of Mars found on Earth and represents all about 7% Currently martian materials on this planetSothabi says. It measures 6 inches from about 15 inches to 11 inches (152 millimeters from 375 millimeters 279 millimeters).
“This is the largest piece of Martian meteorite Mars, which we have found with a long shot,” said Cassandra Haton, Vice Chairman of Science and Natural History in Sothabi. “So it is more than double that we first thought was the biggest piece of Mars.”
It is also a rare discovery. There are only 400 Martian meteorite Sothabi says that among more than 77,000 officially recognized meteorites, Sothabi says.
Haton said that a small piece of red planet was removed and sent to a particular laboratory that confirmed that it was from Mars. He said that it was compared in 1976 with a specific chemical composition of the martian meteorites discovered during the Viking Space Investigation.
The examination found that it is a “Olivin-Micrrogabbric Shergotite”, a type of martian rock formed from slow cooling of Martian Magma. It has a course-dancing texture and includes mineral pieroxin and olivin, says Sothabi.
Haton said that it also contains a glassy surface, due to high heat that burns it when it fell through the Earth’s atmosphere, Haton said. “So this was his first clue that it was not just a big rock on the ground,” he said.
The meteorite was previously performed at the Italian Space Agency in Rome. Sothabi did not disclose the owner.
It is not clear that when the meteorite collides with the Earth, but the test suggests that it was probably in recent years, Sothabi said.
Juvenile Seratosorus Nasisornis Skeleton was found in 1996 near Larami, Vyoming, in Bone Cabin Quarry, in a gold mine for dinosaur bones. Experts stated that experts assembled and mounted about 140 fossil bones with some sculpture materials to recreate the skeleton, so it is ready to display, Sothabi says.
It is believed that the skeleton is late Jurassic periodAbout 150 million years ago, Sothabi says. The auction estimates $ 4 million to $ 6 million.
Ceratosaurus dinosaur was bipolar with small arms Tirenosaurus raxBut small. Ceratosaurus dinosaurs can be 25 feet (7.6 m) long, while Tyranosors Rex can be 40 feet (12 m) long.
The skeleton was acquired last year acquired by phoselogic, a Utah-based fossil preparation and growing company.
Wednesday’s auction is part of Sothabi’s Geek Week 2025 and includes 122 items, including other meteorites, fossils, and gem-quality minerals.