Skip to main content

James Webb Space Telescope to feature on new U.S. stamps

As the James Webb Space Telescope settles into a solar orbit, another version of the satellite will soon be whizzing around Earth.

A new stamp featuring the most powerful space telescope ever built will be issued by the United States Postal Service (USPS) later this year, giving collectors of space memorabilia (or stamps!) something new to add to their collection, and letter writers something to stick on their envelopes.

Stamps showing the James Webb Space Telescope.
USPS

“Celebrate NASA’s remarkable James Webb Space Telescope, the largest and most complex telescope ever deployed in space, capable of peering directly into the early cosmos and studying every phase of cosmic history,” the USPS said in a message announcing the new stamp.

Recommended Videos

The postal service said the image on the stamp is an artist’s digitally created depiction of the telescope “against a dazzling starscape,” adding that the image of a star that will feature at the top of a sheet of the stamps was captured by the Webb telescope early in its mission during tests to confirm the perfect alignment of the telescope’s 18 mirror segments.

The new stamp, whose specific release date has yet to be announced, was designed by art director Derry Noyes using existing art created by James Vaughan and an image provided by NASA and the Space Telescope Science Institute, the USPS said.

NASA shared news of the stamp’s creation in a tweet, saying: “Signed, sealed, delivered, we’re yours. USPS plans to issue NASA Webb stamps later this year. (And we plan to issue NASAWebb pictures of the cosmos.) Stay tuned for all the special deliveries.”

Signed, sealed, delivered, we're yours. @USPS plans to issue @NASAWebb stamps later this year. (And we plan to issue @NASAWebb pictures of the cosmos.) Stay tuned for all the special deliveries. pic.twitter.com/kKXjhQn1Em

— NASA (@NASA) May 3, 2022

The James Webb Space Telescope launched to space in December 2021 in a mission that’s set to last at least 10 years. The ambitious $10 billion project is a joint effort between NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency.

The telescope will explore deep space in a bid to learn more about the origins of the universe while also looking for distant planets that may support life.

Webb’s activities will complement the work of the Hubble Space Telescope, which has been beaming back dramatic images of deep space during its own explorations across the last three decades.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
James Webb takes rare direct image of a nearby super-Jupiter
Artist’s impression of a cold gas giant orbiting a red dwarf. Only a point of light is visible on the JWST/MIRI images. Nevertheless, the initial analysis suggests the presence of a gaseous planet that may have properties similar to Jupiter.

Even with huge ground-based observatories and the latest technology in space-based telescopes, it's still relatively rare for astronomers to take an image of an exoplanet. Planets outside our solar system are so far away and so small and dim compared to the stars they orbit that it's extremely difficult to study them directly. That's why most observations of exoplanets are made by studying their host stars. Now, though, the James Webb Space Telescope has directly imaged a gas giant -- and it's one of the coldest exoplanets observed so far.

The planet, named Epsilon Indi Ab, is located 12 light-years away and has an estimated temperature of just 35 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius). The fact it is so cool compared to most exoplanets meant that Webb's sensitive instruments were needed to study it.

Read more
One half of this wild exoplanet reaches temperatures of 1,450 degrees Fahrenheit
webb wasp 39b dayside nightside stsci 01j2f12rm1s3n39yj938nhsf93 png

This artist’s concept shows what the exoplanet WASP-39 b could look like based on indirect transit observations from JWST and other space- and ground-based telescopes. Data collected by its NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph) show variations between the morning and evening atmosphere of the planet. NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)

One of the ground-breaking abilities of the James Webb Space Telescope is that researchers can use it to not only detect distant planets but also to peer into their atmosphere. Now, new research using Webb has uncovered differing conditions between morning and evening on a distant exoplanet, the first time such differences have been observed on a planet outside our solar system.

Read more
Webb captures a Penguin and an Egg for its two-year anniversary
This “penguin party” is loud! The distorted spiral galaxy at center, the Penguin, and the compact elliptical galaxy at left, the Egg, are locked in an active embrace. A new near- and mid-infrared image from the James Webb Space Telescope, taken to mark its second year of science, shows that their interaction is marked by a faint upside-down U-shaped blue glow.

This “penguin party” is loud! The distorted spiral galaxy at center, called the Penguin, and the compact elliptical galaxy at left, called the Egg, are locked in an active embrace. A new near- and mid-infrared image from the James Webb Space Telescope, taken to mark its second year of science, shows that their interaction is marked by a faint upside-down U-shaped blue glow. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

Today, July 12, marks two years since the first images from the James Webb Space Telescope were unveiled. In that time, Webb has discovered the most distant galaxies known, uncovered surprises about the early universe, peered into the atmospheres of distant planets, and produced a plethora of beautiful images of space.

Read more