Dark Sky Discovery stamps

Description

The Isle of Man now has a total of 26 Dark Sky sites, which is by far the greatest concentration of such sites in Europe. Nineteen sites were recognised in January 2014, which were in addition to the seven that were similarly granted this prestigious status by the Dark Sky Discovery Network (DSDN), based at the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh, during October 2012.

The stamp issue, from 2014, was produced following consultation with Howard Parkin FRAS of AstroManx and the pictures used on the stamps show spectacular images of the Manx night skies and feature some of the constellations clearly visible throughout the year from the Island’s darker skies. The stamps show four Dark Sky scenes taken from various locations on the Island across the seasons with one or more constellations superimposed on each. The stars as well as the surround of each stamp are distinct in that they are metallic, an essential collectable for all philatelists and astronomy enthusiasts.

The 42p stamp shows Orion, one of the most spectacular winter constellations superimposed onto an image taken from Niarbyl. The 164p stamp shows Leo, a spring constellation and the skies from Port Erin, the 182p stamp shows the summer constellation of Cygnus with a spectacular view of the Milky Way as seen from Fort Island and the 230p stamp shows the autumn group showing Pegasus and Andromeda with the sky from Langness.

The SPA has a limited number of these collectible sets of stamps, so it is first-come first-served!