2015 Hubble – 25 Years of Space Exploration
The Hubble Space Telescope turned 25 in April 2015 and Jersey Post celebrated
its anniversary with a set of eight stamps bearing Hubble images, plus a mini
sheet depicting the telescope in orbit. The subjects are as follows:
64p: ‘Mystic Mountain’, a spectacular formation of gas and dust in Carina, which was photographed for Hubble’s 20th anniversary in 2010
71p: A false-colour view of Jupiter taken in 2006 to show the emergence of a new Red Spot, below centre, about half the size of
the true Red Spot which is at centre right
73p: The Cat’s Eye Nebula, a beautiful planetary nebula in the constellation Draco, photographed in 2002 (released 2004)
95p: Interacting galaxies UGC 1810 and UGC 1813 in Andromeda, released in 2011 for Hubble’s 21st anniversary.
£1.25: The Pistol Star, an exceptionally luminous star shedding shells of gas near the
core of our Galaxy, seen at infrared wavelengths in 1997
£2: The Hubble Telescope itself appears on the accompanying mini sheet in a photograph taken by astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis after the telescope’s final servicing mission in 2009.
Stanley Gibbons nos. (to come)