As part of its commitment to unraveling the universe’s mysteries through sustained support of the astrophysics community, the Flatiron Institute is securing the future of MESA (Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics), an open-source software suite that has transformed how researchers model the evolution of stars. The Flatiron Institute’s Center for Computational Astrophysics (CCA) is stepping up to support MESA’s need for ongoing maintenance and continued development. CCA has hired Philip Mocz as a full-time software engineer to help ensure MESA’s bright future for the collective benefit of the astrophysics community.

In April 2019, rare primitive meteorites fell near the town of Aguas Zarcas in northern Costa Rica. In an article published online in the journal Meteoritics & Planetary Science, an international team of researchers describe the circumstances of the fall and show that mudball meteorites are not necessarily weak.  "27 kilos of rocks were recovered, making this the largest fall of its kind since similar meteorites fell near Murchison in Australia in 1969," said meteor astronomer Peter Jenniskens of the SETI Institute and NASA Ames Research Center. The research team now believes that Aguas Zarcas is strong because it avoided collisions in space and did not have the cracks that weaken many meteorites.