Sotheby’s in New York is set to auction the largest known piece of Mars ever found on Earth—a 54-pound (24.67 kg) meteorite named NWA 16788.
Scientists say the meteorite likely blasted off Mars after a massive asteroid impact and travelled 140 million miles before landing in the Sahara Desert. It was discovered in Niger in November 2023 by a meteorite hunter.
A small sample was sent for lab testing, confirming its Martian origin by comparing its chemical makeup with meteorites collected by NASA’s Viking landers in 1976.
The rock is classified as an olivine-microgabbroic shergottite, formed from slow-cooling Martian magma and featuring minerals like pyroxene and olivine. Its glassy surface shows it endured intense heat entering Earth’s atmosphere.
The meteorite was previously exhibited at the Italian Space Agency in Rome, though its current owner remains undisclosed. Testing suggests it fell to Earth only in recent years.
Alongside the meteorite, Sotheby’s Geek Week auction on 16 July will feature a mounted juvenile Ceratosaurus dinosaur skeleton, estimated at $4 to $6 million. The skeleton, from the Late Jurassic period about 150 million years ago, was discovered in Wyoming in 1996 and reassembled by fossil experts.
The Ceratosaurus, a bipedal predator smaller than the Tyrannosaurus rex, could grow up to 25 feet long. This specimen stands more than 6 feet tall and nearly 11 feet long.
The auction includes 122 lots, ranging from meteorites and fossils to gem-quality minerals, showcasing some of the rarest natural history treasures on the market today.
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Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains limited on Thursday, with no increase in vessel crossings as U.S.-Iran talks to resolve the conflict remained stalled. Nine commodity vessels transited the key waterway on Wednesday, unchanged from the previous day, according to Kpler data.
Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has slowed, according to the latest data, as uncertainty over the waterway’s reopening kept most shipowners away. Six commodity vessels crossed the strait on Tuesday, down from nine the day before and below the 10-day daily average of 11.
Russia is open to listening to new proposals on how to reach a settlement on the Ukraine conflict, a senior Russian diplomat said, but any proposals should reflect the "realities on the ground".
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top news stories for the 20th of August, covering the latest developments.
Five years after Evergrande's debt crisis rattled global markets, founder Hui Ka Yan has been sentenced to life in prison, marking a dramatic new chapter in the downfall of China's former property giant.
An artificial intelligence agent running an experimental store in San Francisco has recommended dismissing a human employee after the worker repeatedly arrived late for shifts.
Nvidia is teaming up with some of the biggest names in global finance in a move that underscores how artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming one of the world's most sought-after investment themes.
Parts of Europe and the Arctic will briefly fall into darkness on Wednesday, 12 August, as the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun in a total solar eclipse.
Meta said one of its AI models hacked another company's systems during cybersecurity testing, intensifying concerns about how developers can contain increasingly capable AI systems following similar incidents involving Anthropic and OpenAI.
Scientists say the accidental crash of a discarded SpaceX rocket stage into the moon has provided valuable data on impact cratering while posing no threat to Earth or lunar hardware.
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