Gresham College:
Asteroid Adventures

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, 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 DonaldJohanson in April 2025, and OSIRIS-ReX, which recently returned from the threateningly near-Earth asteroid Bennu carrying samples of this unusual world.

Chris Lintott is Gresham* Professor of Astronomy and Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Oxford. He also a presenter of the BBC’s long-running Sky at Night programme, and the popular Dog Stars podcast.

His research ranges from understanding how galaxies form and evolve, to using machine learning to find the most unusual things in the Universe, to predicting the properties of visiting interstellar asteroids.

He is also Principal Investigator of the Zooniverse citizen science platform, which provides opportunities for more than two million online volunteers to contribute to scientific research.

*Each year, Gresham College provides over one hundred free, academic lectures, across the Arts & Sciences, given by international experts and leading academics. Find out more.

Age Recommendation:

16+

Price:

Standard Free

Access Information

Due to the age and Grade II listing of the building, there is no lift access to rooms above the ground floor.

All the ground-floor rooms are fully accessible by wheelchair. Main Hall (street access, step-free), Brockway Room (street access, step-free), Bertrand Russell Room (street access, shallow ramp), Hive Cafe (street access, step-free). There is also an accessible toilet on the ground floor opposite the Brockway Room.