Even though this is a huge amount, the estimated auction price was much higher.
We’re sure you must be wondering how this lunar dust, which is bound to be a scientific sample came to be sold at a private auction.
Let’s start with how this sample was collected.
Solar wind regularly blasts the surface of the airless moon, adding an electric charge to the fine-grained dust, also known as regolith.
However, a couple of decades ago NASA had loaned that outer ziplock bag along with some other artefacts to the Cosmosphere space museum in Hutchinson, Kansas.
The bag was then sold to Nancy Lee Carlson, for $995 in 2015 at a US Marshal’s auction.