India’s Martian Meteorite Cousin Now The Star Of A $4 Million Auction

Photo:Sotheby’s

India-West News Desk

NEW YORK, NY – More than 150 years after a Martian meteorite fell in India, a much larger relative is now making headlines—this time at a high-profile auction in New York.

A massive chunk of Mars, known as NWA 16788, is expected to fetch up to $4 million when it goes under the hammer at Sotheby’s natural history sale on July 16. The rock is the largest Martian meteorite ever discovered on Earth and weighs over 54 pounds—making it more than 70 percent bigger than any other known piece of Mars to reach our planet.

The meteorite belongs to the same class as the Shergotty meteorite, which fell in Bihar in 1865. That fall gave the name to “shergottite” meteorites, a volcanic group believed to have originated from Mars’s lava-rich regions.

NWA 16788 was found a year ago, on July 16, 2023, by an anonymous meteorite hunter in the remote Kefkaf region of Niger. A piece of the stone was later sent to the Shanghai Astronomy Museum for scientific analysis. The specimen is so large it represents more than 6 percent of all Martian material ever recovered on Earth, according to Sotheby’s.

Martian meteorites are extremely rare—only around 400 have been identified out of more than 77,000 cataloged meteorites from across the solar system. The vast majority never make it to public display. That rarity, paired with its size and well-preserved condition, has drawn the interest of private collectors and institutions alike.

Though Sotheby’s believes the meteorite landed on Earth relatively recently, the exact timing remains unclear. The rock shows little weathering, suggesting it hasn’t spent much time exposed to Earth’s elements.