Largest Mars rock found on Earth sees $4.3M bid at Sotheby's auction

The Martian rock, known as NWA 16788, weighs more than 54 pounds, is nearly 15 inches long and is 70% larger than the next biggest piece of Mars that has been recovered, according to the auction house. ABC reported.

Sotheby's said the piece broke from the surface of Mars following a recent asteroid strike and traveled more than 140 million miles across the Solar System.

It crashed in the Sahara Desert in the Agadez region of Nigeria and was found by a meteorite hunter in November 2023, Sotheby's said.

"This is the largest piece of Mars on planet Earth. The odds of this getting from there to here are astronomically small," Cassandra Hatton, vice chairman of science and natural history at Sotheby's, said in a video posted online. "Remember that approximately 70% of Earth's surface is covered in water. So we're incredibly lucky that this landed on dry land instead of the middle of the ocean where we could actually find it."

The original bid was $4.3 million. With fees and additional costs, the total price of the rock increases to about $5.3 million, according to the auction house.