The largest fragment of Mars on Earth is on the market | EUROtoday

On Jul 13, 2025

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C‘is a crimson, brown and grey stone, 25 kilos heavy, which might be, on July 16, the spotlight of the public sale organized by Sotheby’s in New York. Appointed NWA 16788 and estimated at 4 million {dollars}, this piece is the most important fragment of March ever discovered on earth, stories, this July 13, Associated Press.

This meteorite was found in Niger in September 2023. According to the gross sales home, it might have been received from the floor of Mars by an asteroid and would have made a visit of some 225 million kilometers to the top of its race on Earth, within the Sahara. Expected in a specialised laboratory, the fragment is attribute of a sort of Martian rock fashioned by the cooling of the magma. “The chances that this happens so far are astronomically weak,” stated Cassandra Hatton, vice-president of the science and pure historical past of Sotheby’s.

Its easy and glossy floor is because of warmth suffered in the course of the passage within the earth’s environment. “It was the first indication that it was not just a big stone on the ground. The specialists who analyzed the fragment believe that it would have landed in a recent period.

7 % of the Martian material known on earth

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The measurement of the fragment fabricated from him “the biggest piece of March that has never been, by far,” stated Cassandra Hatton. Measuring 37.5 out of 27.9 over 15.2 cm, “it is more than double than what was considered before the biggest fragment”. The half represents 7 % of the fabric from Mars recognized on earth.

Out of greater than 77,000 meteorites acknowledged as such by scientists on our planet, solely 400 come from March, stated the gross sales home. Making NWA 16788 an actual rarity. “It is not only a miraculous discovery, but a set of massive data that can help us unravel the secrets of our neighbor, the red planet,” stated Cassandra Hatton.

https://www.lepoint.fr/culture/le-plus-gros-fragment-de-mars-sur-terre-est-a-vendre-13-07-2025-2594289_3.php