Chunk of Mars sells for $5.3 million at New York auction

NWA 16788 was discovered in Niger in November 2023 and is approximately 70% larger than the next biggest piece of Mars ever found on Earth, according to Sotheby’s

ByDANIELLE GREYMAN-KENNARD, REUTERS, July 26, 2025https://www.jpost.com/science/article-861691

The meteorite NWA 16788, the largest known piece of Mars on Earth, is displayed during the press preview of Sotheby’s Natural History auction in New York City, U.S., July 8, 2025. (photo credit: REUTERS/EDUARDO MUNOZ)

A meteorite, understood to be the largest known piece of Mars on Earth, sold at auction for $5.3 million at Sotheby’s New York auction in July.

The 24.5kg meteorite, known as NWA 16788, was sold to an anonymous bidder.

Most meteorites, pieces of asteroids or comets, are only fragments as pieces are burnt away while passing through the Earth’s atmosphere. About 5 million years ago, an asteroid or comet slammed into Mars so hard that rocks and other debris launched into space.

The significance of NWA 16788

NWA 16788 was discovered in Niger in November 2023 and is approximately 70% larger than the next biggest piece of Mars ever found on Earth, according to Sotheby’s.

“NWA 16788 is a discovery of extraordinary significance — the largest Martian meteorite ever found on Earth, and the most valuable of its kind ever offered at auction,” Cassandra Hatton, vice chairman of science and natural history at Sotheby’s, said in the statement.

A handler organizes meteorite NWA 16788, the largest known piece of Mars on Earth, during the press preview of Sotheby’s Natural History auction in New York City, U.S., July 8, 2025. (credit: REUTERS/EDUARDO MUNOZ)

“Weathered by its journey through space and time, its immense size and unmistakable red color sets it apart as a once-in-a-generation find. This remarkable meteorite provides a tangible connection to the red planet — our celestial neighbor that has long captured the human imagination,” she added.

"So it comes hurtling... 140 million miles through space, makes it through Earth's atmosphere," said Hatton, noting that most things burn up in our planet's atmosphere.

"It's incredible that it made it through and then that it crashed in the middle of the desert instead of the middle of the ocean, in a place where we could find it, and that somebody who could recognize what it was found it.

"So there's a whole kind of process or a layer of things that have to happen in order for this to become reality and be here in front of us."

Parts of NWA 16788 were turned into glass after being blasted through space.

Academics expressed concern to CNN that the rare find was not being donated to science. There are about 400 officially recognized Martian meteorites on Earth, of which NWA 16788 is by far the largest.

“It would be a shame if it disappeared into the vault of an oligarch. It belongs in a museum, where it can be studied, and where it can be enjoyed by children, families, and the public at large,” Steve Brusatte, a professor of paleontology and evolution at Scotland’s University of Edinburgh, told CNN.