When a University of Arizona planetary scientist persuaded NASA to point the Hubble Space Telescope at Jupiter and Uranus to gather clues about the atmospheres of the two giant gas planets, he had no idea that his images might end up years later in mailboxes across the nation and possibly the world. These Forever stamps will always be equal in value to the current First-Class Mail 1‑ounce price.Erich Karkoschka in the Space Imagery Center at the UA's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. The Sun Science stamps are being issued as a Forever stamp in panes of 20.
As humanity continues to explore space, a deeper knowledge of solar activity will also make it possible to identify and solve problems involved in communications, data collection, spacecraft and satellite design, and the effects of space radiation on the human body.Īrt director Antonio Alcalá designed the stamps from photos that have been colorized by NASA to correspond with the wavelengths that reveal specific features of the sun’s activity. Increased understanding of the sun helps us better explain and predict its impact not only on Earth’s climate but also on the near-Earth space environment and how it affects sensitive human technology, such as communications systems and satellite electronics. That space is affected by a complex, ever-changing magnetic field that influences our entire solar system.
#Solar system stamp full
Although the space between the sun and Earth appears empty to human eyes, it is actually full of particles and energy from the constant flow of solar wind emitted by the sun. Heliophysics, the study of the sun and its influence on the planets and space surrounding them, has important implications for our day-to-day lives. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Observing plasma blasts and solar flares can help us better understand and mitigate the impact of such eruptions on technology in space. Sunspots, coronal holes and coronal loops, for example, can reveal how those magnetic fields dance through the Sun and its atmosphere.
The stamps highlight different features on the Sun that help scientists learn about how our star works and how its constantly churning magnetic fields create the solar activity we see. Each black-and-white image is colorized to the bright hues seen here. The Solar Dynamics Observatory lets us see the Sun in wavelengths of ultraviolet light that would otherwise be invisible to our eyes. The Sun is the only star that humans are able to observe in great detail, making it a vital source of information about the universe. These images come from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, a spacecraft launched in February 2010 to keep a constant watch on the Sun. Postal Service illuminates the light and warmth of our nearest star by highlighting these stunning images of the Sun on stamps. One of the stamps highlights sunspots, two feature images of coronal holes, two show coronal loops, two depict plasma blasts, one is a view of an active sun that emphasizes its magnetic fields, and two show different views of a solar flare. Instead, each image is colorized by NASA according to different wavelengths that reveal or highlight specific features of the sun’s activity. The striking colors in these images do not represent the actual colors of the sun as perceived by human eyesight. Printed with a foil treatment that adds a glimmer to the stamps, the images on these stamps come from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, a spacecraft launched in February 2010 to keep a constant watch on the sun from geosynchronous orbit above Earth.
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