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US auction house to sell meteorite pieces
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-02-27 09:49

DALLAS - Two pieces of a meteor that blazed across the Texas sky earlier this month are going from the asteroid belt to the auction block.

Dallas-based Heritage Auction Galleries announced Thursday it is putting two pieces of the meteorite up for auction, including an 8-ounce (227-gram) specimen that could fetch up to $5,000.

Auction house spokesman David Herskowitz says the meteor pieces were discovered in the town of West, about 70 miles (112 kilometers) south of Dallas, by an East Coast meteorite hunter whose trip was paid for by an anonymous collector.

People across Texas reported seeing a fireball February 15. The Federal Aviation Administration initially suggested it could have been debris from colliding satellites but later said it probably was a natural phenomenon.

The auction date is May 17.