The universe of United States postage stamps featuring James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) imagery is set to expand again in 2025.
The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) on Monday (Dec. 16) revealed that its upcoming Priority Mail and Priority Mail Express flat rate stamps will feature two deep space vistas captured by the Webb observatory. Scheduled for release on Jan. 21, the stamps will be the second set to use JWST photos after the pair issued this year.
"USPS celebrates the continued exploration of deep space with an extremely high-definition image of a spiral galaxy 32 million light-years from Earth ... [and] a star cluster approximately 1,000 light-years from Earth," the postal service announced on its website on Monday. "The [images were] captured by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope."
Both stamps feature images taken in 2023, in the first and year and a half since Webb — the world's most powerful telescope — was deployed 1 million miles (1.5 million kilometers) from Earth at a gravitationally stable point with the sun (Lagrange Point 2 or L2).
Related: US Postal Service to launch James Webb Space Telescope 'forever' stamp
The 2025 Priority Mail stamp focuses on Spiral Galaxy NGC 628, showing stark shades of orange and red representing the gas and dust revealed in near- and mid-infrared light. The image, which debuted to the public on Jan. 29, 2024, was taken as part of the PHANGS (Physics at High Angular resolution in Nearby GalaxieS) program, a project that includes observations from several space- and ground-based telescopes of many galaxies.
"The image ... helps researchers update their models of star formation and allows them to better understand the origins of our universe," the USPS description read.
Star Cluster IC 348 is the subject of the 2025 Priority Mail Express stamp. The wispy violet curtains that fill the image are interstellar material reflecting the light from the cluster's stars, hence it being referred to as a "reflection nebula."
"Hidden within the cloud of celestial dust are floating brown dwarfs — objects too small to be stars but larger than most planets. Studying these brown dwarfs will help scientists explore how star-formation processes operate for very small masses," read the USPS announcement.
Both stamps were designed by Greg Breeding, an art director for the USPS. The Webb images were provided by NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency, partners in the telescope's operation, together with Janice Lee of the Space Telescope Science Institute, Thomas Williams with the University of Oxford and the PHANGS team for NGC 628 and Kevin Luhman with Penn State University and Catarina Alves de Oliveira of ESA for IC 348.
The stamp designs and subjects are still subject to change, pending a review by the Postal Regulatory Commission. If approved, both the Priority Mail and Priority Mail Express stamps will be issued during a first-day-of-issue ceremony in Big Sky, Montana.
Details with regards to first-day-of-issue pictorial cancellations and cachets are still to be announced. The stamp designs were unveiled among a second group of stamp subjects to be released in 2025, with additional topics to be revealed in the coming weeks and months. Thus far, the Webb stamps are the only space-themed issues planned for the coming year.
The 2024 Priority Mail and Priority Mail Express stamps featured Webb's version of the "Pillars of Creation," one of the Hubble Space Telescope's most iconic images, and "Cosmic Cliffs," one of Webb's first targets. They remain available from the USPS, though due to a temporary price change, require added postage when used to send Priority Mail or Priority Mail Express shipments.
The James Webb Space Telescope was also the subject of a 2022 USPS Forever denomination stamp that featured an artist's rendering of what the observatory looked like after it entered service in deep space. It too remains for sale from the postal service.
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