An ‘incredibly rare’ piece by Mars – the greatest ever found on Earth – sold to auction to New York against 4.3 million dollars (about 3.2 million pounds) yesterday Wednesday.

This is the meteorite with the name NWA 16788who weighs 24.5 kg and is in length 38cmaccording to Sotheby’s auction house.

It was discovered in a remote area of Niger in November 2023 and – as the house reports – is 70% larger than any other part of Mars has ever been recovered on Earth.

Meteors are the remnants of space rocks that survive their passage from the Earth’s atmosphere.

Sotheby’s has described the meteorite – with a reddish brown look – as “incredibly rare”. In total, about 400 meteorites have been identified on Earth.

“This is the largest piece of Mars on planet Earth. The chances of getting there up to here are astronomically small“, CassandraVice President of the Department of Science and Natural History of Sotheby’s in a related video.

“Remember that about 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered by water. So we are incredibly lucky to fall into dry and not in the middle of the ocean“, He added.

It is not known who acquired the meteorite, as the details of the sale remain private. With taxes and supplies, the total price reached $ 5.3 million.

In the same auction, which included more than 100 items, a hornfire was also sold from the late Jurassic period for $ 26 million, as well as a thick skull for $ 1.4 million.