Name: Moon rock for sale: A piece of moon once fell on Earth, and now you can buy the 13.5 kg rock at £2 mn
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Moon rock for sale: A piece of moon once fell on Earth, and now you can buy the 13.5 kg rock at £2 mn

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Search+››› A piece of moon once fell on Earth, and now you can buy the 13.5 kg rock at £2 mnBy , Last Updated: May 06, 2020, 10:44 AM ISTSynopsisInternational auction house ’s is set to offer one of the largest lunar in existence for private sale. It is the fifth largest piece of the moon, larger than any returned by the Apollo programme.Christie’s presents NWA 12691, a significant lunar rock, among the largest known in existence. Moon rock is among the rarest substances on Earth, with less than 650 kgs of known to exist. This example is the fifth largest piece of the Moon on Earth, larger than any returned by the Apollo programme. Valued in the region of £2 million, the specimen is available for immediate purchase via Christie’s Private Sales.Lunar meteorites arrived on Earth after having been blasted off the lunar surface by the collision with an asteroid or comet. All of the Moon’s large craters were created by such impacts. This particular meteorite was part of a large meteorite shower straddling the Western Saharan, Algerian and Mauritanian borders, responsible for nearly half of all known lunar meteorites.Lunar meteorites arrived on Earth after having been blasted off the lunar surface by the collision with an asteroid or comet.Approximately 30 different meteorites were collected, analysed, classified and assigned different NWA numbers in the belief they might be from different events and represent different lunar samples; but it has been determined that they all originate from the same lunar impact event as the current offering. NWA 12691 was found in the Sahara Desert two years ago.AutoplayA monster asteroid - named Apophis after the Egyptian 'God of Chaos' - is likely to swoosh past Earth, but there is a slight chance that it may hit the planet.The bigger-than-Eiffel Tower asteroid, weighing around 27 billion-kg, could leave a crater impact of 1.6 km wide in diameter and 518 metre deep. It has the capacity of an 880 million tonne TNT explosion that can wipe out large cities or even an entire country.First spotted in August 2006, the ‘hazardous’ asteroid was initially named 2006 QQ23.Meanwhile, the European Space Agency recently released a 'risk list' of 878 asteroids that are likely to cause a massive impact on Earth in the next 100 years.Here's a look at all the asteroids Earth has braved.This is the famous asteroid impact that hit Earth approximately 66 million years ago in the present-day town of Chicxulub in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula state, during the end of the Cretaceous period.The asteroid was between 11-81 km in diameter. Its impact caused a 180 kilometre wide crater, making it one of biggest known impactors on Earth. The asteroid heated organic matter in rocks and ejected it into the atmosphere, forming soot in the stratosphere. Soot is a strong, light-absorbing aerosol that caused global climate changes that triggered the mass extinction of dinosaurs, ammonites, and other animals, and led to the macroevolution of mammals and the appearance of humans.The Apophis asteroid is relatively smaller in size compared to this one.In March or April of 1490, China's Qingyang city experienced the Ch'ing-yang air burst. The meteor shower may have occurred because it got disintegrated from an asteroid after entering the atmosphere. While there hasn't been any confirmation, it is believed that the meteor shower may have caused a large number of casualties. On June 1908, Russia's Podkamennaya Tunguska River in Yeniseysk Governorate, which is now now Krasnoyarsk Krai, saw a large explosion. With three casualties and an impact stretch of over 2,000 sq km, the carter - the circular, bowl-shaped depression on the surface of the Earth - was never found.The researchers believe that the object was disintegrated about 5-10 km before hitting the surface. Considered as Earth's largest impact event, its size was estimated somewhere between 50 metre and 190 metre, depending on the speed at which it travelled. Its energy was estimated to be 1,000 times greater than the Hiroshima atomic bomb attack, knocking down around 80 million trees due to the shock wave, which was capable of wiping out a metropolitan city.This superbolide (a meteor brighter than the moon that radiate energy due to friction or pressure, and exploded after entering the atmosphere) entered our planet's atmosphere on February 2013 over southern Ural region in Russia's Chelyabinsk Oblast. An approximately 20-metre asteroid turned into a fireball, emitting light brighter than the Sun that was visible from a distance of up to 100 km.While the atmosphere absorbed most of the object's energy, it resulted in major shock waves that shattered glass, damaged buildings and even caused 1,500 injuries. If the energy wasn't absorbed, the impact could have been 26-33 times greater than the nuclear blast at Hiroshima.With over 12,000K – 13,000K kg heavier than France's Eiffel Tower, this is the biggest natural object that entered the atmosphere ever since the 1908 Tunguska impact.I don't want to see these stories becauseJames Hyslop, Christie’s head of Science &amp; Natural History said, “I’ve been lucky enough to handle a few lunar meteorites at Christie’s over the years, but every time I see this specimen in the warehouse the sheer size of it bowls me over. Weighing over 13.5kg, it is so much larger than anything else that has ever been offered before. The experience of holding a piece of another world in your hands is something you never forget.”Christie’s is also offering for private sale a group of 13 aesthetic iron meteorites. Shaped by forces terrestrial and extra-terrestrial, this group of natural sculptures forms an important collection of aesthetic iron meteorites in private hands. The collection, estimated in the region of £1.4 million, is also available for immediate purchase via Christie’s Private Sales.AutoplayWhen Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa announced earlier this week that he wanted a companion to accompany him on a voyage to the Moon, it marked just the latest instance that an ordinary citizen could conceivably fly to outer space.There have been a few private citizens before him who have expressed a desire to indulge in a spot of space tourism, while a few enterprising organisations also offer the same deal to people willing to pay top dollar. Here are all the ways one can go into outer space without actually being an astronaut.Many companies like Virgin Galactic, SpaceX and Blue Origin have invested heavily in outer space, and they have even opened up slots to people. The only catch: These slots don’t come cheap. An out-of-this-world trip could cost seven-digit amounts. But what’s even more uncertain is the time frame. Impatient types may try other options.Unfortunately, a very real fear is that space tourism will not become a viable reality within our lifetime. Fear not. One space robotics company, Astrobotic Technology, has planned a lunar memorial service for paying customers, whereby they can send the ashes of their loved ones to the Moon. The term “love you to the Moon” will just not have the same impact once this takes off.Technically speaking, outer space begins at 100 kilometres above the surface of the Earth, what’s known as the Kármán line. There are, however, startups that take you to one part of the journey. The US-based World View Enterprises, for instance, will take you to an altitude of 30 kilometres, enough to acknowledge the vastness of the universe and marvel at its blackness. And isn’t that what space tourism is all about, after all?Experience Your Economic Times Newspaper, The Digital Way!&nbsp;»Download to get Daily Market Updates &amp; Live Business News.Subscribe to XContinue reading with one of these options:Limited AccessFreeLogin to get access to some exclusive stories &amp; personalised newslettersLogin NowUnlimited AccessStarting @ Rs120/monthGet access to exclusive stories, expert opinions &amp; in-depth stock reportsSubscribe NowTo read full story, subscribe to ET Prime₹34 per weekBilled annually at₹2499Already a Member? Super Saver Sale - Flat 30% OffOn ET Prime MembershipAlready a Member? 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Search+››› A piece of moon once fell on Earth, and now you can buy the 13.5 kg rock at £2 mnBy , Last Updated: May 06, 2020, 10:44 AM ISTSynopsisInternational auction house ’s is set to offer one of the largest lunar in existence for private sale. It is the fifth largest piece of the moon, larger than any returned by the Apollo programme.Christie’s presents NWA 12691, a significant lunar rock, among the largest known in existence. Moon rock is among the rarest substances on Earth, with less than 650 kgs of known to exist. This example is the fifth largest piece of the Moon on Earth, larger...

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Moon rock for sale: A piece of moon once fell on Earth, and now you can buy the 13.5 kg rock at £2 mn

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