U.S. Postal Service to unveil first-of-its-kind stamp to mark upcoming total solar eclipse
If you thought the U.S. Postal Service was daring when it commemorated Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin, wait till you see – and touch – the solar eclipse stamp being released June 20.
A finger press to the stamp’s black circle brings a full moon into view, offering two images for the price of one.
It’s the first of its kind, issued to mark the Aug. 21 total solar eclipse, which will cast a 70-mile-wide shadow path across the U.S. for the first time since 1918.
The moon will cover the sun, bringing darkness to that “path of totality,” along with a rapid drop in temperature and “great jets and ribbons of light, twisting and curling out into the sky,” reports space.com.
The full effect will be visible to people within the path stretching from Salem, Ore., to Charleston, S.C. The line of darkness will not include Colorado, and those outside of the zone will see only a partial solar eclipse.
But the path will arc through Wyoming and Nebraska. Jackson, Casper and Riverton, Wyo., will be plunged into darkness, as will Grand Island and Hastings, Neb.
Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming also will be within the shadow’s path.
“During totality, the area inside the moon’s shadow is cloaked in twilight – a very strange feeling to experience in the middle of the day. Just before and just after totality, observers can see this cloak of darkness moving toward them across the landscape, and then moving away,” space.com reports.
The umbra, or dark shadow of the moon, will reach the Oregon coast at 10:15 a.m. and then sweep nearly 2,500 miles in only 94 minutes.
Fred Espenak, known as “Mr. Eclipse” for his photography and knowledge of the celestial events, provides an idea of how it feels to experience totality in Kate Russo’s book “Total Addiction.”
Espenak says the mere memory of “glorious totality . can quicken the pulse and increase respiration as vivid memories flood one’s mind.”
“The simple act of standing within the shadow of the Moon affords the rare and unprecedented opportunity to gaze directly at the halo of million-degree plasma surrounding our star. … The corona’s gossamer crown of pearly light displays an ethereal beauty that transcends both science and nature. It hypnotizes the viewer into an altered state where time seems to stand still,” says Espenak, an eclipse chaser.
The U.S. Postal Service will provide a map of the eclipse path on the back of the pane of its new stamp.
The stamp is made with thermochromic ink, so oddly enough, it should be kept out of direct sunlight. It will be released at 1:30 p.m. June 20 at the Art Museum of the University of Wyoming in Laramie, where visitors can see one beam of sunlight hit a silver dollar embedded in the floor at noon of the summer solstice.
And while that sight might be fun, the real splendor will come two months and one day later.
U.S. Postal Service to unveil first-of-its-kind stamp to mark upcoming total solar eclipse
Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin are among the artists featured on the US Postal Service’s Music Icons stamps. Photo by Mark Reis, The Gazette
U.S. Postal Service to unveil first-of-its-kind stamp to mark upcoming total solar eclipse
Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin are among the artists featured on the US Postal Service’s Music Icons stamps. Photo by Mark Reis, The Gazette
