NASA

US Postal Service Releases Set of Forever Stamps to Celebrate Summer Solstice

solar stamps
USPS, NBC 5 News

These 10 images come from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, a spacecraft launched in February 2010 to keep a constant watch on the sun. The stamps were designed by Antonio Alcalá. Each of these photos has been colorized by NASA to correspond with the wavelengths that reveal specific features of the sun’s activity.

The United States Postal Service is releasing a new set of Forever Stamps to celebrate the upcoming summer solstice next week.

The stamps feature images of the sun captured by one of NASA's premiere solar-observing telescopes.

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Viewers can chat one-on-one with NASA experts on Friday, June 18 between 7 a.m. and 2 p.m. about what the summer solstice is, what these new stamps show us about our closest star, and what it means that our sun is ramping up activity, the US Postal Service said.

According to NASA, our eyes can only see a narrow spectrum of light from the sun, but observatories in space can view the sun in a wide swath of wavelengths, allowing viewers to see features and activity our eyes cannot.

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Solar missions like the Solar Dynamics Observatory make it possible to see the sun in greater detail.

NASA reminded viewers that they should never look directly at the sun.

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