New USPS stamps show spectacular Webb Telescope images of âPillars of Creation,â and âCosmic Cliffsâ

The U.S. Postal Service has issued two new stamps featuring images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope.

Pillars of Creation– a Priority Mail stamp for $9.85– features a trillions-of-miles-tall formation that lies 6,500 light-years away from Earth within the vast Eagle Nebula. The Webb Telescope snapped this eerie image in 2022, revealing a new view of a vast stellar landscape. Cosmic Cliffs– a Priority Mail Express stamp for $30.45– showcases the stars and gases of the Carina Nebula.

“Within the enormous swirl of the Cosmic Cliffs, radiation and solar winds emitted by newly formed stars blow gases and dust into a frenzy of creation and destruction. These particles are the active building blocks of new stars and planets,” USPS said in a press release.

Both stamps are sold in panes of four.

Launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration on Dec. 25, 2021, the James Webb Space Telescope is the largest and most sensitive telescope ever deployed in space. Revealing the cosmos in vivid, infrared detail, it is designed to provide scientists with breathtaking images and new data.

The telescope has a strong Alabama tie as well. The mirrors that captured the images and the sunscreens that protect them were built and tested in Alabama.