Rare meteorites from the Moon, Mars and more to go under the hammer

For those looking for an accessory a bit out of this world, the auction house offers an unusual offering: meteors.

In an online sale, Christie’s auction house is displaying a collection of celestial bodies, including samples from the moon and Mars, as well as aesthetic iron meteorites and gemstone rocks.

Meteorites are small natural objects from space that survive their passage through Earth’s atmosphere and Earth at the surface — and while some specimens are in museums, 75 were sold this month as part of «Deep Impact: Mars, the Moon» and other rare meteorites. «

Among the group is a statue made of the dust of a 7 billion year-old star — a pointed stone meteorite that found its way to Earth in an unusual way.

Unlike most other meteors, this meteor did not capsize or capsize when it fell to the ground and instead maintained a steady orientation as it descended, according to Christy. Weighing in at about 16 pounds, this stone is estimated to sell for $ 50,000-80,000, and has distinct and contrasting markings on the side facing the ground.

Also on sale is a ball made from the meteorite core of a shattered Swedish asteroid. credit: Christie’s

“Everyone has an image in their mind of what a meteor“ should look like — an extraterrestrial object that is friction-heated while penetrating the Earth’s atmosphere, ”said James Hislop, chair of the science and natural history department at Christie’s.“ Things rarely survive. From this fiery fall it looks like that shared idealism seen in this meteor. «

The Gibbon meteorite, is on sale for an estimated $ 15,000- $ 25,000 credit: Christie’s

Also on sale is a cross-section of Mars rocks, with bubbles from the planet’s atmosphere trapped inside the slide, valued at between $ 30,000 and $ 50,000. Auctioneers are also showing a sample of a meteor descended from the largest meteor showers in the United States, in Odessa, Texas, which auctioneers expect to fetch $ 60,000, along with a ball made from a meteorite core of a shattered Swedish asteroid, which can sell for $ 18,000.

But not all things charge astronomical prices — some others have a spare mark starting at $ 250 for the auction, which begins Feb.9.