One of the meteorites that fell at Aguas Zarcas struck a doghouse’s roof. (Photo courtesy of Michael Farmer)

A rare meteorite fall in Costa Rica has astronomers racing to get their hands on samples.

Meteorites are an astronomer’s dream. In a field that by definition studies objects and phenomena above and beyond Earth’s atmosphere, many researchers never get a chance to touch or see up close the things they study. But then, sometimes, these items simply rain down from the sky, in the form