Look out your window and see the moon, stars and distant planets. Light years away, it's easy to think that our lives and their existences will never intersect. Yet meteorites - tiny, irregular rocks of sometimes immense value - connect us with the vastness of the universe. They may have brought the first life to our planet, and today they still reveal extraordinary scientific insights.

Helen Gordon, author of the acclaimed Notes from Deep Time, tells the stories of meteorites which have fallen to Earth and the lives they've touched - from collectors to kings, scientists to saints. She meets amateur astronomers and gem dealers, goes meteorite hunting across the rooftops of London and learns what objects moving through space can tell us about life - and death - on Earth.

Helen Gordon is a writer and natural historian. Her books include Being a Writer and the acclaimed Notes from Deep Time, as well as a novel, Landfall. She has written for 1843 magazine, the Guardian and Wired, edited for Granta, and teaches Creative Writing at the University of Hertfordshire.