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The world's largest piece of Mars ever to fall to Earth is going on display.

The heavy rock weighs 14.5kg and is 25cm across its widest point.

It was unveiled on Wednesday at the Maine Mineral and Gem Museum in the US, where they have a collection of extra-terrestrial rocks including the five largest pieces of the Moon that we have on Earth.

The chunk of Mars landed on Earth after a large asteroid or comet blasted it off the Red Planet.

"Martian rocks can fall to Earth as meteorites. They are ejected off Mars by large, energetic impact events," said Dr. Carl Agee, director of Institute of Meteoritics at the University of New Mexico who told Live Science.

Dr Agee is one of the world's experts of Martian meteorites and was asked by the museum to confirm the rock was indeed a piece of the Red Planet.

He said it is "by far the largest complete uncut Martian meteorite on Earth." There are around 300 pieces of Martian rock on Earth but collectors usually break them apart to sell them separately.

Scientists named the meteorite 'Taoudenni 002' as this was the second meteorite to be discovered near Taoudenni in Mali - a desert salt-mining centre north of Timbuktu.

The meteorite is mainly made up of minerals called pyroxene, olivine and maskelynite.

Darryl Pitt, who secured the rock for the museum, said: "This is a spectacular specimen of Mars and it's the perfect accompaniment to the exhibit just across the room: the largest known piece of the Moon other than the Moon itself."

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