A dog neighbour, destroyed by a meteorite strike, is expected to fetch up to $300,000 at Christie’s auction, while a piece of Mars will fetch up to $800,000.
Offers are pouring out on many of the auction pieces called “Deep Impact: Meteors of Mars, the Moon and Other Rare Collection” after space has become the desired in our world today with the launch of SpaceX, the first space crew launched by a private company in the world, and the screening of the Oscar-nominated “Don’t Look Up” movie. A comet is rapidly heading towards Earth.
Christie’s said in a statement that the sale of 66 items, which is taking place online only and will end on Wednesday, includes “meteorites containing the oldest material that can be touched by a human hand.”
Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson said in an interview that the pieces on display include “rocks ejected by larger meteorites from the Moon or Mars.”
“These rocks separated (from the meteorites) and swam into space, some of them landing here on Earth.”
The third largest rock from Mars found on Earth is expected to register the highest price in this auction. But the most unusual item that has been up for sale since the auction began on February 9 is a dog jar.
Rocky the dog, a Shepherd, was inside the den but narrowly escaped when a meteor smashed through the tin roof in April 2019 in Aguas Zarcas, Costa Rica.
“A hole more than 17 centimeters in diameter indicates the hole that the meteorite made in the roof and the dog’s yard,” Christie’s said.
“The meteorite almost crushed (the dog),” said Daryl Peet, who is in charge of the Makovich meteorite collection and an auction consultant. Fortunately he survived.
The cow that was hit by a meteorite in Venezuela in 1972 was not so lucky. The rest of it was slaughtered by a farmer and its flesh was eaten.
So far, no one on earth has been hit by a meteorite.
“You may go your whole life without ever touching a meteorite, but there are people who have devoted their entire careers to finding it in the wild, often putting it up for sale to dealers or at auction,” Tyson said.
‘So, if you want a piece of the universe other than Earth, this is available.’
Tyson added: ‘It is likely that there are tons of meteorites from the Moon and Mars more widespread on the Earth’s surface than is currently present in our collections that we have.
‘In a way, it looks like the universe is coming to us’.
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