Stamping across the solar system

By Tushna Commissariat

Earlier this week, the UK’s Royal Mail issued a set of six special stamps to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Britain’s first satellite – Ariel 1 – that was launched on 26 April 1962. While the Royal Mail has issued stamps with space images on them in the past, the new set “takes the theme forward, exploring the solar system in greater depth than ever before”, according to the company.

All six images are taken from missions conducted by the European Space Agency (ESA) and include the cavernous craters of Mars, the dizzying rings of Saturn, a close-up image of the Sun and a filament, a green-tinged picture of Titan – Saturn’s largest moon, the Lutetia asteroid and a shimmery picture of the south pole of Venus. Andrew Hammond, the Royal Mail stamps spokesperson, said “Britain has played an important role in space exploration over the last half a century and our Space Science issue is a fitting tribute.”

You can buy the set at the Royal Mail website.