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New York to auction largest known piece of Mars on Earth

Named NWA 16788, this meteorite is believed to have been blasted off Mars by a colossal asteroid impact.

The Martian meteorite was discovered by a meteorite hunter in Niger in November 2023. (AP Photo)

At first glance, it might seem like just a hefty chunk of rock. But this 54-pound specimen is unlike anything else on Earth, because it’s not from Earth at all! It’s the largest known piece of Mars ever discovered here, and it’s heading under an auction at Sotheby’s in New York.

Named NWA 16788, this meteorite is believed to have been blasted off Mars by a colossal asteroid impact, hurtled 140 million miles through space, and finally landed in the Sahara Desert. It was discovered by a meteorite hunter in Niger in November 2023, reported AP citing Sotheby’s.

“This Martian meteorite is the largest piece of Mars we have ever found by a long shot,” said Cassandra Hatton, vice chairman for science and natural history at Sotheby’s. “So it’s more than double the size of what we previously thought was the largest piece of Mars.”

Measuring nearly 15 inches by 11 inches by 6 inches, this red, brown, and grey chunk is around 70% larger than the second-biggest known Martian meteorite. It alone accounts for nearly 7% of all Martian material ever found on Earth.

Estimated at -4 million, is displayed at Sotheby’s, in New York. (AP Photo)

How rare is a Martian meteorite?

Sotheby’s notes, as per AP, that there are only about 400 confirmed Martian meteorites among the 77,000+ meteorites officially recognised on Earth.

To confirm its extraterrestrial origin, a small piece was sent to a specialist lab and compared with the chemical fingerprint established by NASA’s Viking probe, which landed on Mars in 1976. The results were conclusive: the rock is an olivine-microgabbroic shergottite, a slowly cooled Martian magma type filled with pyroxene and olivine crystals.

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Its glassy surface hints at the fiery entry it endured while hurtling through Earth’s atmosphere.

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Expected to fetch between $2 million and $4 million, this meteorite leads a collection of 122 items in Sotheby’s Geek Week 2025 natural history-themed sale.

The lot also includes a juvenile Ceratosaurus nasicornis skeleton, a dinosaur measuring over 6 feet tall and nearly 11 feet long. As for the Mars rock, its journey may have spanned millions of years and millions of miles, but its final stop may be a collector’s cabinet, unless a museum or research institution steps wins the bid.

(With inputs from AP)

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