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Author
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Topic: USPS issues new Edwin Hubble stamp
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Ross
Member Posts: 99
From: Australia
Registered: Jul 2003
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posted February 27, 2008 07:06 AM
   
The US Postal Service will honour some of the most impressive scientific achievements of the 20th century on March 6 with the release of four stamps featuring American Scientists at a "mega stamp show" in New York City. One of those stamps features Edwin Hubble.
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Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 11328
From: Houston, TX, USA
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted February 28, 2008 01:07 PM
While I realize there was an earlier release of Hubble Space Telescope photo stamps, I find it just a bit disappointing that they couldn't sneak a reference to the orbiting observatory into this Hubble stamp, such that this release would appeal to both astronomy and space exploration fans. Still, I suspect this will be a popular stamp choice for covers canceled for STS-125 later this year (in addition to the aforementioned Hubble imagery stamps and perhaps the 1981 HST illustration in the Space Achievement set). IP: Logged |
mjanovec
Member Posts: 1870
From: Midwest, USA
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted February 28, 2008 02:11 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Robert Pearlman:
I find it just a bit disappointing that they couldn't sneak a reference to the orbiting observatory into this Hubble stamp, such that this release would appeal to both astronomy and space exploration fans.
I actually find myself leaning the other direction on this issue. The HST is named after Hubble as a way of honoring him. It is not, however, part of Hubble's own career and accomplishments. Putting the HST on the stamp may create the impression that Hubble himself designed the HST or was key to it's development. Therefore, I think the stamp should concentrate on the man and not the machine. IP: Logged |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 11328
From: Houston, TX, USA
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted February 28, 2008 02:33 PM
quote:
Originally posted by mjanovec:
Therefore, I think the stamp should concentrate on the man and not the machine.
I agree that the concentration should be on the man (given the series in which the stamp belongs) and I certainly wasn't advocating the space telescope should take the place of Palomar the Hooker Telescope at Mount Wilson, but it would have been rather easy to slip in a small representation of the telescope bearing his name within the starfield behind him (even as an almost hidden reference, with one of the stars shaped to resemble HST).Speaking though of Hubble's (the astronomer's) accomplishments, though I can see where the yellow gradient at the left edge is intended to blend the border with the Pauling stamp in the block of four, it might have been nice if the artist thought to switch the colors or positioning with that of Bardeen's stamp to give a visual nod to the Hubble's Law (i.e. redshift). IP: Logged |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 11328
From: Houston, TX, USA
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted March 07, 2008 07:06 PM
The crew of STS-125, who will service the Hubble Space Telescope for the last time later this year, helped formally unveil the Edwin Hubble stamp on Thursday, March 6 via a live satellite broadcast from NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. 
Click on above photo to enlarge.From left to right: commander Scott Altman, mission specialists Andrew Feustel, Michael Good, Michael Massimino, John Grunsfeld, Megan McArthur and pilot Greg C. Johnson. IP: Logged | |
