The largest known Martian meteorite has just been sold at auction for $5.29 million, selling well over the asking price of $2 million to $4 million. The hefty chunk of the Red Planet could help us learn more about our cosmic neighbor — if it's allowed to be properly studied.
The meteorite, dubbed Northwest Africa (NWA) 16788, is around twice the size of a basketball and weighs 54 pounds (24.5 kilograms), making it "the largest known piece of Mars ever found on Earth," according to Sotheby's — the auction house responsible for selling the space rock.
