MURCHISON METEORITE — 7-BILLION-YEAR-OLD STARDUST - photo 1

MURCHISON METEORITE — 7-BILLION-YEAR-OLD STARDUST

Sold
£ 21 420
Auction dateClassic
06.04.2022 14:00UTC +01:00
Auctioneer
CHRISTIE'S
Event location
United Kingdom, London
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 737490
Lot 1 | MURCHISON METEORITE — 7-BILLION-YEAR-OLD STARDUST
A complete stone showing the characteristic fusion crust, with windows into the dark and carbon-rich matrix that is studded with light-coloured chondrules.

Containing tens of thousands of organic compounds and perhaps related to the meteorites that introduced precursors of life to Earth, now offered is a pristine, exemplary specimen of what is among the most storied meteorites in the scientific literature. On January 13, 2020 the Murchison meteorite made headlines. Again. This time it was not the result of the 70-plus amino acids and tens of thousands of organic compounds it was previously found to contain. It was the announcement that a specimen of Murchison contained the oldest particulate matter ever encountered on our planet. A grain of stardust in a specimen of Murchison was determined to be more than seven billion years old — more than 50% older than the Earth and Sun.

In the morning of September 28, 1969 — the same year Apollo 11 landed on the Moon — a meteorite shower occurred over the town of Murchison, Australia. The labs that had been set-up to study Moon rocks were suddenly tasked with additional work when Murchison’s aromatic odor was plainly noticeable. We now know that Murchison meteorites contain a variety of organic compounds including alcohols, aromatic hydrocarbons, and fullerenes — the latter being a potential antiviral and anti-aging agent. And then there are its amino acids which can combine to form proteins — the building blocks of life. Murchison experienced chemical alteration by water-rich fluids on its parent asteroid prior to impacting Earth. Coveted by both scientists and collectors, the last several decades have seen specimens of Murchison becoming some of the most researched of meteorites with citations in scores of scientific papers. In 2010, an article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences announced that 14,000 unique molecular compounds were identified in a small section of a Murchison specimen. This study by a team of nine German scientists further determined that many of these organic compounds were present in the solar system before life commenced on Earth — which not only raises the question of whether meteorites played a key role in life's origins, but whether meteorites similar to Murchison may have seeded precursors of life in other solar systems as well.

Christie's would like to thank Dr. Alan E. Rubin at the Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles for his assistance in preparing this catalogue.
55 mm x 40 mm x 27 mm (21/8 x 11/2 x 1 in.)
72g.
Category:Meteorite
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
Preview
23.03.2022 – 06.04.2022
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
4FQ.AYGKAGLUQ@FO3G@
Buyer Premium see on Website
Conditions of purchaseConditions of purchase

Related terms

Frequently asked questions

First of all, you should register to be able to purchase at auction. After confirming your email address, enter your personal information in your user profile, such as your first name, last name, and mail address. Choose a lot from the upcoming auction and the maximum amount you want to place on it. After confirmation of your choice, we will send your application by e-mail to the appropriate auction house. If the auction house accepts a request, it will participate in the auction. You can view the current status of a bid at any time in your personal account in the "Bids" section.
Auctions are performed by auction houses and each of the auction houses describes their terms of auction. You can see the texts in the section "Auction information".
The results of the auction are published within a few days after the end of the auction. In the top menu of the site, find the tab "Auctions". Click on it and you will be on the auction catalog page, where you can easily find the category "Results". After opening it, select the desired auction from the list, enter and view the current status of the interested lot.
The information about the auction winners is confidential. The auction winner will receive a direct notification from the auction house responsible with instructions for further action: an invoice for payment and the manner in which the goods will be received.
Each of the auction houses has its own payment policy for the won lots. All auction houses accept bank transfers, most of them accept credit card payments. In the near future you will find detailed information for each case in the section "Auction information" on the page of the auction catalog and the lot.
Shipment of the won lot depends on its size. Small items can be delivered by post. Larger lots are sent by courier. Employees of the auction houses will offer you a wide range to choose from.
No. The archive serves as a reference for the study of auction prices, photographs and descriptions of works of art.