The largest piece of Mars ever discovered on Earth has been sold at a New York auction for $5.3 million (USD).
It was sold on Wednesday 16 July 2025 by Sotheby’s in New York.
The Martian rock was discovered on 16 November 2023 by a meteorite hunter in Niger’s Agadez Region.
Scientists say the rock, named NWA 16788, travelled 140 million miles through space, having been ejected from Mars by a huge asteroid strike on the Red Planet.
It then crashed down in the Sahara Desert, where it was found by a meteorite hunter.
NWA 16788 is about 70% larger than the next largest piece of Mars round on Earth.
It weighs 24.5kg (54lb) and is nearly 38.1cm (15in) long, according to Sotheby’s.
A link to the Solar System’s formation
Meteorites, asteroids and other space rocks are leftover materials from the birth of the Solar System, and so studying them can teach scientists a lot about how the Solar System formed, and what it was like in its infancy.
NWA 16788 was blasted out of Mars by an asteroid slamming into the planet’s surface, and then scorched as it fell through Earth’s atmosphere.
“After making this incredible interplanetary journey, this meteorite then had to contend with Earth’s atmosphere, which protects us from thousands and thousands of micro-meteorites, pieces of decaying satellites and other space trash,” says Cassandra Hatton, Vice Chair, Science and Natural History at Sotheby’s.
“None of those things make it through Earth’s atmosphere because they burn up upon reentry. So this making it through the atmosphere is just another miraculous step in this Martian meteorite’s journey to Earth.
“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.”
Fewer than 400 Martian meteorites have ever been recorded on Earth, and most are about the size of a small pebble, making this a huge discovery.