The only affair worse than getting strike by lightning or alarge , flying birdis getting struck by a meteorite . Thankfully , the chances of this happening to you are incredibly low — according to National Geographic , there is only one confirmed fount of a meteorite strike a person . So perhaps it ’s no surprise that a piece of the offending distance rock , called “ Sylacauga ” after the town it landed in , just sold todayfor one hell of a Leontyne Price tag .
agree to Christie ’s , the vendue house hold a portion of the famous falling rock from the Smithsonian , as part of an on-line auction featuring an raiment of meteorites , including some estimate to be about4.5 billion years previous . The rock has been stow away since itstruck a woman on the hipafter blasting through the roof of her home on November 30 , 1954 in Talladega County , Alabama .
“ Estimated at $ 5000 - 8000 , the 10.3 Hans C. J. Gram specimen of Sylacauga trade for $ 7500 ( $ 728 / g ) include the buyer ’s premium , ” Daryl Pitt , meteorite consultant for Christie ’s , told Gizmodo . “ By style of example , the terms of 24 K gold today is $ 39.05 / g and so this specimen sell for 18.5 times its weight in Au . ”
According to Pitt , Sylacauga was n’t alone . Other pieces , like a piece of aGibeon Meteoritethat originated from the Fe - rich core of an ancient asteroid , sold today as well . If you were in the market for a pretty small-arm of space dust , today was your sidereal day to fly high .
“ More than one-half of the flock sell for their high estimation or more including , at $ 37,500,a specimenwhich contain the oldest issue humankind can touch , ” Pitt say . He was refer to the atomic number 20 - rich deposits inside a latterly - sold carbonic meteorite from Chihuahua , Mexico , which are reckon to be 4.567 billion years one-time . “ It was a very , very skillful day for meteorite at Christie ’s . ”
Meteorites come primarily from fragments of asteroid locate within theasteroid beltbetween Mars and Jupiter . These hunks of space rock were capable to make it all the way through Earth ’s atmosphere and apparently , to Christie ’s . have a objet d’art of something that honest-to-god and that foreign is n’t cheap , but if you ’ve have money to screw up , why not ?
( Also , if you buy one of these meteorite today , do permit me experience if you ’d be concerned in paying off my student loanword debt . I went to NYU . )
MeteoriteOuchScienceSpace
Daily Newsletter
Get the best tech , scientific discipline , and culture tidings in your inbox day by day .
tidings from the future , delivered to your present tense .
You May Also Like
