Stamp collectors in the US might want to schedule a trip to their local post office and pick up a set of these beautiful stamps that depict images taken by the James Webb Telescope. The US Postal Service (USPS) has just teamed up with NASA and released two stamps eating the iconic images.

The stamps were issued on January 22nd and are available to buy in sets of four. They cover Priority and Priority Express postage.

Iconic images

The stamps feature the ‘Pillars of Creation’ and ‘Cosmic Cliffs’, two of the most iconic images to have been taken by the telescope since 2022.

The Priority Mail Express stamp features Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) image of the “Cosmic Cliffs” in the Carina Nebula. This nebula is approximately 7,600 light-years away. This image was one of the first colour images revealed by the telescope in 2022 and shows emerging stellar nurseries and individual stars that were not able to be seen before.

The Priority Mail stamp shows an image of the ‘Pillars of Creation’ captured by Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument). This image is an update of Hubble’s famous image of the same nebula. However, Webb’s shows much more detail. The Pillars of Creation is set within the vast Eagle Nebula, which lies 6,500 light-years away.

“With these stamps, people across the country can have their own snapshot of Webb’s captivating images – and the incredible science they represent – at their fingertips and know that they, too, are part of this ground-breaking new era in astronomy,” says Nicola Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

You can buy the stamps from the USPS. The set of “Pillars of Creation” costs $39.40, and four “Cosmic Cliffs” stamps will set you back $121.80.

Or you could just send an email 😉