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Mars is one of Earth’s closest neighbors in the solar system.
Believe it or not, someone recently paid more than $5 million for a rock. But this is no ordinary rock. It’s the largest piece of Mars ever found on Earth! It sold at an auction in New York City in July.
The rock is what’s called a meteorite. Meteorites are space rocks that land on Earth’s surface. Only about 400 meteorites from Mars have ever been found. Most can fit in the palm of your hand. But this one weighs a whopping 54 pounds.
Humans have never set foot on Mars. So studying meteorites from Mars can help researchers learn about the planet.
“Meteorites are super important,” explains Julia Cartwright. She’s a scientist who studies planets and other objects in space. “They hold information about our solar system that we can’t get any other way. Because this one is so big, it can tell us a lot about Mars.”