Two years ago, a nearly 30-pound lunar meteorite was found in the middle of the Sahara Desert. CNN reports it is the fifth-largest piece of the moon known to have fallen to earth.
Now, that piece of the moon is up for sale at London’s famous Christie’s auction house for the asking price of a mere $2.5 million. The sale is private, not an auction, meaning that it will be available to the first buyer who can come up with the set price.
James Hyslop, head of the Science and Natural History department at Christie’s, said in a statement that this lunar meteorite, known as NWA 12691, is likely the largest piece of the moon that will ever be made available on the public market.
In an interview with The National, Hyslop shared that the lunar meteorite for sale is verified to be an actual piece of the moon. It’s about the size of a football, and was likely taken from the surface of the moon by an asteroid or comet colliding with its surface.
NWA 12691 had to travel 240,000 miles through space before it landed in the Sahara Desert, according to the New York Post, and was certified as genuine lunar rock after being compared with rock samples brought back by astronauts during the Apollo moon missions of the 1960s and 1970s.
Along with the 30-pound lunar meteorite, Reuters reports Christie’s is also placing 13 different iron meteorites on the market for a total of $1.7 million.