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'.

Sunday Stamps | U for Universe

I received this postcard of the sun from Posted Letter, with this thermochromic ink stamp of the solar eclipse, that I had previously featured on a post.

It gave me an idea to look for more stamps related to the theme Universe, for the letter U of Sunday Stamps.

Pluto and New Horizons
31 May 2016
(USA)

Express Stamp - Space Shuttle Challenger
22 June 1995
(USA)

Jupiter Room in Guiana Space Centre
50th anniversary of CNES (French Space Agency)
17 October 2001
(France)

World Space Week
6 October 2016
(Mexico)

I hope that any scientist will not be offended if I include in this post the following stamps...

Boba Fett (Star Wars)
20 October 2015
(UK)

Star Trek
2 September 2016
(USA)

Star Trek
27 April 2017
(Canada)

Total Solar Eclipse

A month ago, on 21 August, a total solar eclipse was visible within a band across the entire contiguous United States. 

The USPS issued a commemorative forever stamp on 20 June. It is the first US stamp that uses thermochromic ink. By rubbing a thumb or finger on the eclipse image, it reveals an underlying image of the full moon. Afterwards, the image reverts back to the eclipse as it cools.

The photograph of the total solar eclipse on the stamp was taken at Jalu, Libya on 29 March 2006 by NASA astrophysicist Fred Espenak (aka Mr Eclipse). The stamp's alternate image is a photo of the full moon taken by Espenak at his observatory in Portal, Arizona in 2010. 

As you can see, they also issued some special postmarks. I have been the happy receiver of two (different)!

This one on an envelope from Phillip, who wrote the address in a really clever way. And included a eclipse-themed card inside:

The other postmark was sent by Bryon, on the back of this postcard. Not easy to read in the dim light during a eclipse!

A Gril Reading, 1877
Frank Duveneck (1848-1919)