Mark Thompson (astronomer)

Mark Thompson
Born	Mark Thompson 1973 (age 44–45) Norfolk, England
Occupation	Astronomer, television presenter, writer

Mark Thompson (born 1973, Norfolk, England) is a British astronomer, television presenter and writer best known for being one of the presenting team on the BBC show Stargazing Live and is a regular face on The Alan Titchmarsh Show. He calls himself the "Peoples' Astronomer".

Thompson has lived in Norfolk all his life and was first enthused about astronomy aged 10 when he saw the rings of Saturn through a telescope. He has remained living in the county because the night skies are very dark and ideal for stargazing.

Thompson had given up his ambition to present on TV and had retrained as a pilot when (in 2009) he was picked to become a presenter on the BBC's The One Show.

Thompson was the first amateur astronomer to become a council member of the Royal Astronomical Society. He is President of the Norwich Astronomical Society. (In fact Mark was not the first amateur astronomer to become a council member of the RAS. Since it was founded in 1820 as the Astronomical Society of London (receiving its Royal Charter in 1830 from King William IV) it has had many amateurs on its council, including many of its founding members (of the original 12 founding members in 1820, 11 were amateurs, including the Sir John Herschel, the son of William). Nigel Calder and Anthony Kinder, both amateurs, were members of the council in 2001-2004.)

He is most well known for his role as one of the presenting team of the hit BBC science show Stargazing Live.

As of February 2017 Thompson had 76,822 followers on Twitter.

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