Mohammadi News Agency News – Features – Photo
MNA Feature Desk: As love besieges our hearts on Valentine’s Day every year, we tend to impress our loved ones with different types of gifts, some of which are very romantic and innovative. But if someone is looking for an out of the world gift this Valentine’s Day, it can become a reality this valentine’s day. Well, for about $500,000 you can get your special someone a heart-shaped space rock, 320-million-years old.
As far as space relics go, meteorites are highly prized by collectors and scientists alike. The charred, twisted remnants of space rock can teach us a lot about the kind of natural material that is still drifting through Earth’s neighborhood and they happen to look pretty cool, too.
That being said, rocks from space aren’t necessarily romantic in any way. Unless, of course, we are talking about ‘The Heart of Space’, which just happens to be a meteorite shaped like a heart. The iconic space rock was supposed to go up for auction from February, ending just in time for Valentine’s Day.
The heart-shaped meteorite entered the Earth’s atmosphere in the Siberian Sikhote-Alin Mountains on Feb 12, 1947 and is about to go under the hammer at the British auction house Christie’s as part of a larger collection of exceedingly rare meteorites from February 6. The auctions close on February 14, just in time for Valentine’s Day.
According to Christie’s website, the meteorite once belonged to a 900 kg mass of iron that split from the asteroid belt 320 million years ago. When it entered the atmosphere, it shattered further into smaller meteorites.
Not all the meteorites that were born out of the meteoroid that entered Earth became such celebrities, even as they fire-balled into Earth in a single, bright blaze. While the rest of the pieces broke off with jagged edges, ‘The Heart of Space’s distinction may be due to the fact that it probably split at a higher altitude and thus could gain the indentations that make it valuable.
Other Sinkhole-Alin meteorites on sale on Christie’s are ranged anywhere from $1,200 to $3,000. But don’t let the romantic shape fool you. The Sikhote-Alin meteor shower caused shockwaves to go through the Siberian Mountains as the space rocks finally hit them. Windows shattered, trees toppled and sonic booms abounded due to the sonic shockwaves.
The meteorites created craters across the terrain, about 200 of which have so far been catalogued. Some of these craters were as wide as 26 meters.
Christie’s has named the Russian meteorite ‘The Heart of Space’ and expects bids ranging from USD 300,000-USD 500,000.
Christie’s explains that it is due to the shape of the rock and the distinct indentations or ‘regmaglypts’ that it contains apart from the fact that it is pre-historic.
The online auction, which is being held by Christie’s will wrap up on February 14th. It would be a great Valentine’s Day gift for that special someone, but you’re going to need some seriously deep pockets to make that a reality. If that’s not romantic enough for your Valentine, we don’t know what is.
Valentine’s Day is widely celebrated in Bangladesh and we also have some deep-pocket romantic ones in our country like Prince Musa bin Shamsher, who loves his wife so much that he always eats from her hands. May be Prince Musa and some other rich lovers of Bangladesh could have bided for ‘Heart of Space’.
If ‘Heart of Space’ could have reached the soil of Bangladesh, it would be a great gift for all the lovers of this country as well as for the people who holds interest in antiquities.
We hope rich lovers of Bangladesh take a shot at ‘Heart of Space’ for the love of their lives.
