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Journalism of Courage
On Wednesday, British auction house Christie’s concluded the sale for many space treasures and racked up more than 1.2 million dollars in sales.
The online-only auction was titled, ‘Impact: Martian Lunar and Other Rare Meteorites’. The bidding was open for two weeks between February 9 to February 23 and close to 60 items were listed for auction.
The most unusual item was a doghouse that was hit by meteorites. According to Christie’s website, on April 23, 2019, at 9:07 p.m, meteoroids rained on some parts of the Costa Rican city of Aguas Zarcas. One of the meteorites punched a seven-inch hole through the dog house’s roof. Fortunately Roky, the German Shepherd sleeping inside it was unharmed. The doghouse was sold for $44,100.
While Roky survived a shower of heavenly rocks, a cow in Venezuela’s Trujillo state was not so lucky. On October 15, 1972, a sharp meteorite fatally hit a cow’s neck. The farm’s owner started using the small boulder, that killed one of their cows, as a doorstop. After more than a decade, the meteorite was considered as the “first and still only documented fatal meteorite impact.” This month, it was sold for $5,040.
Allende, the most studied meteorite in the world, was also put for sale. The black and grey coloured meteorite advertised as “the oldest matter humankind can touch” is estimated to be formed 4.56 billion years ago. It fell near Chihuahua in Mexico on February 8, 1969.
Imilac, considered the most beautiful meteorite, was sold for $27,720. Lunar meteorites, which are substances that were ejected from the moon’s surface, were also put on sale.
