You Can Own a Piece of Mars—Provided You Have $800,000

Why wait until we colonize Mars to get a feel for its unique environment? Thanks to Christie’s, you can bid on what’s being billed as the third-largest piece of Mars to exist on Earth—but it will set you back somewhere in the neighborhood of $800,000.

The galactic fragment is part of the Deep Impact auction currently on offer from the famed auctioneers, which runs through Wednesday, February 23. In addition to the Mars chunk, you can bid on a piece of the Moon, as well as a doghouse that was struck by a meteorite. (Don’t worry, the dog is fine.)

The Mars piece weighs in at 20 pounds and arrived as the result of an asteroid impact on the planet that then jettisoned pieces into an Earth-crossing orbit, according to Christie’s. The chunk was discovered in Northern Mali in 2018 and it's believed that 600 pounds of Mars terrain exists on Earth. The piece being offered could end up going for between $500,000 and $800,000.

Got the Moon in your eye? A sample cut from a rock located in the Sahara Desert in 2007 is also up for bid. Again, a meteorite impact is thought to be the cause of the lunar surface sample ending up on Earth, making it exempt from the prohibition on the private sale of Moon rocks retrieved by NASA’s Apollo program. (They’re considered property of the United States government.) It could sell for between $200,000 to $300,000.

Relaxing in his doghouse in Aguas Zarcas, Costa Rica, on April 23, 2019, a German Shephard named Roky gave his owners a story they’ll tell for the rest of their lives. At 9:07 p.m., a meteorite shot through the tin roof, barely missing the dog. Christie’s is now offering the dog shelter, complete with the hole. It could fetch between $200,000 and $300,000.

Additionally, Christie’s is offering the only meteorite believed to cause a fatality. A rock fell from the sky in Venezuela in 1972, striking and killing a cow. The bovine bludgeon could sell for up to $5000.

[h/t Christie’s]