Lights Out

Lately, eclipse-related mail has become a thing. Before 8 April, I got a letter on this map from Bryon (the USA). 

On 18 April (only ten days after the total eclipse!), a couple of pieces of mail arrived, postmarked on the very eclipse day:

This postcard from Phillip shows the successive phases of an eclipse on the Sun (taken from Larousse Encyclopedia of Astronomy by Lucien Rudaux and G. de Vaucouleurs, 1962). But the clever thing here is how the stamps are lined up on the envelope: the Moon pass in front of the Sun, eclipsing it. An unbeatable way of sending a real eclipse by snail mail!

The eclipse stamp was issued on 2017,  and it uses thermochromic ink. I took a picture to show how it works. You can see it on this post.

The eclipse path of 2017 was quite different from the 2024 path!

Bryon, Canada, sent this postcard that arrived also on 18 April:

On the back, the stamps include superb images of northern lights and the Milky Way. And also the stamp issued by Canada Post on March 2024, which celebrates the total eclipse:

Printed with a special spot-gloss varnish that glows when exposed to black light, it shows the eclipse set against a darkened sky. A thin silver line depicts its path across Canada, and a collage along the bottom of the stamp highlights some of the landscapes over which it passes – including Ontario’s Niagara Falls and Spillars Cove in Newfoundland and Labrador.

I love that the postcard was postmarked in Bonavista, meaning, literally 'Good view'.