A small meteorite is displayed with an 80 million yuan price tag ($13.2 million) at a dealer's shop in Urumqi, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region on December 25. Farmers dug up the asteroid remnant, measuring about 8 centimeters across and weighing nearly half a kilogram, after it fell in Xinjiang's Qitai county on April 12, 2009. Photo: chinanews.com

"It may be around 4.6 billion-years old, the same age as the Earth itself. It's priceless in terms of scientific research, economics and culture," commented Zhang Baolin, meteorite expert and senior engineer at the Beijing Planetarium. Photo: chinanews.com