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Asteroids were for years considered 'celestial vermin' - objects which got in the way of more interesting fodder for astronomers. Now, they are central to our Solar System's story, representing the building blocks from which planets are made, and capable of telling us the history of the last five billion years. This lecture considers two missions - Lucy, which flies past asteroid Donald Johnson in April 2025, and OSIRIS-ReX, which recently returned from threatening near-Earth asteroid Bennu bearing samples of this unusual world.

This lecture was recorded by Chris Lintott on 23rd April 2025 at Conway Hall, London

Chris is Gresham Professor of Astronomy.

He is also a Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Oxford, and a Research Fellow at New College.

The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/asteroid-adventures

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