After a long journey a small piece of Mars has made its way to Edmonton.

The U of A recently purchased a 58 gram chunk of a Martian meteorite that fell to Earth in Morocco last July.

U of A researcher Chris Herd was part of the international committee that first determined the Moroccan space rock was from Mars, he said this was a rare chance for the university to get a piece of the red planet.

""It is the freshest piece of Mars that we have, [and] it's only the 5th fall of a Martian meteorite in history"

The small stone had a long trip coming to Earth; researchers say it may have spent as much as 5 million years floating in space.

The original Meteorite that landed in Morocco is called Tee-Zint, it weighed seven kilograms. It has now been split-up and is being studied around the world.

A one kilogram piece of the rock recently went on display at the Natural History Museum in London, England.

Herd focuses his studies on Martian meteorites and says getting a chance to study this rock is a dream come true.

"This is the next best thing that we have to actually sending a rover to Mars and bringing a sample back."

With files from Sonia Sunger