New Zealand’s clear night skies are an irresistible magnet for stargazers, offering the perfect backdrop for dazzling displays of the Milky Way and its neighbouring galaxies. With an ever-changing view – whether in a single night or throughout the year – they provide one of the most spectacular natural displays on Earth.
Some stars are visible all year round, while others only come into view as the Earth sweeps around their region of the sky. But whenever and wherever they appear, they guarantee a glorious panorama; a visual treat, free to all who glance skywards once the sun has set and darkness has descended. New Zealand Post is delighted to feature five ‘stars of the stars’ in our latest stamp issue – each captured by the Royal Astromonical Society New Zealand.
50c – Southern Cross
The Southern Cross is such an important feature of New Zealand’s night sky that it is part of our national flag. Visible all year round and easily identifiable in the Southern Hemisphere’s night sky, it has long been a valuable navigation aid. It also appears on the New Zealand Tomb of the Unknown Warrior – the stars being seen to have guided the Warrior back to New Zealand from distant battlefields.
$1.00 – Pleiades
The star cluster Pleiades rises just once a year in June, the month when these beautiful stamps are issued. For Maori it is called Matariki, and its arrival on the dawn horizon heralds the start of a brand new year. According to Greek myth, the Pleiades are the seven daughters of Pleione and Atlas – Electra, Maia, Taygete, Alcyone, Celaeno, Asterope and Merope. A number of ancient temples on Athens’ Acropolis face the direction where the Pleiades rise.
$1.50 – Trifid
The Trifid Nebula (also known as Messier 20) was discovered by Frenchman Charles Messier in 1764. Believed to be about 6,000 light years away from the Earth, its strikingly different colours are caused by effects within its vast clouds of hydrogen gas and dust – which in parts are so dense that they hide the Nebula, producing the three dark lanes that earned it the name ‘Trifid’ (which means divided into three lobes).
$2.00 – Southern Pinwheel
The Southern Pinwheel (also known as Messier 83) was discovered by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in 1752 and added to Charles Messier’s catalogue in 1781. It is even further than the Trifid Nebula from Earth – 15 million light years away, in the southern constellation of Hydra. Having a similar appearance, shape and size to our own Milky Way galaxy, it contains more than 100,000 million stars and earned its name from the shape of its prominent spiral arms.
$2.50 – Large Magellanic Cloud
The Large Megallanic Cloud and its companion the Small Magellanic Cloud are satellite galaxies of the Milky Way – two of our closest neighbour galaxies. Named after the 16th-century Portuguese circumnavigator Ferdinand Magellan, they are hazy patches of light near the South Celestial Pole containing millions of stars, gas and dust. At 190,000 light years away, the Small Magellanic Cloud is one of the most distant objects visible with the naked eye.
Reaching for the stars
All five stamps feature on the Southern Skies first day cover. The stunning night-sky images provide a lovely backdrop to a set of astronomical telescopes, all focused on learning more about our magically mysterious universe.
The Southern Skies miniature sheet booklet features six unique miniature sheets, one miniature sheet for each of the five stamps and one miniautre sheet with all five stamps, from this issue.
The miniature sheet booklet is the only way you can obtain the six miniautre sheets. Full of fascinating facts about the stars and telescopes used to view them, this is going to be popular collectable.
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