Sotheby’s sells piece of moon for $37K

CAIRO – 28 July 2022: Sotheby's International Auctions announced the sale of a piece of the moon (lunar meteorite) for $37,800 during an auction it held on July 27.

The item sold at Sotheby's - social media

According to the auction house, the item sold is 26 mm (1.0 in) in diameter and weighs 29.17 g (145 carats). It was found in northwest Africa.

The piece constitutes a part of the moon that was ejected into the Earth's crossing orbit after an asteroid collided with the moon's surface. It was formed into a sphere after it became meteorite number 12691 recovered in the Northwest African network of the Sahara desert to be classified and published in the scientific literature.

Lunar meteorites are among the rarest objects on Earth with less than 1,200 kilograms. All lunar samples collected in the Apollo moon landing missions (382 kg) as well as in the Soviet missions Luna-16, -20 and -24, are the property of the federal government of the United States and the Russian Federation, respectively.

While both countries gave gifts of moon rocks to other countries, it was never given to anyone in his personal capacity, with one exception; Widow of Sergei Korolev, chief designer of Russia's space program.

That sample, consisting of three small pebbles of earth, was collected by the unmanned Soviet Luna-16 . probe. It was auctioned twice, first in 1993 for $440,000, and again in 2018 for $855,000.

This means that unlike the above sample, the only way to get a piece of moon rock legally, is to buy one of the few who have traveled to Earth alone.

Lunar meteorite samples are identified by specific geological, mineral, chemical and radiological fingerprints. The lunar origin of this specimen was determined by several scientists whose work was examined by a panel of colleagues before being published in the journal Meteoritical Recording.

Many common minerals found on Earth are rare on the Moon. In addition, lunar rocks contain gases originating from the solar wind in isotopic ratios that differ markedly from the same gases found on Earth.

As can be imagined, some lunar samples brought back to Earth by Apollo astronauts are very similar to some lunar meteorites - this is one example.

There is evidence of abundant anorthosite inclusions - which are rare on Earth and common on the Moon - as well as lumps of olivine, dove, augite, and ilmenite, all suspended in a melting dark-colored lunar regolith (lunar soil).

The fractured structure is the result of the crushing effect of multiple asteroid collisions on the Moon's surface prior to the impact that ejected this material from the Moon into space and then onto Earth.