• Home
  • News
    • Politics & Government
    • Business & Economy
    • Crime / Courts
    • Health / Medicine
  • Sports
    • High School Sports
    • Radio Iowa Poll
  • Affiliates
    • Affiliate Support Page
  • Contact Us
    • Reporters

Radio Iowa

Iowa's Radio News Network

You are here: Home / Human Interest / Special stamps feature a solar eclipse

Special stamps feature a solar eclipse

June 21, 2017 By Matt Kelley

Eclipse stamp.

This is the first day of summer and the longest day of the year, an appropriate date for the U.S. Postal Service to release a stamp commemorating the total solar eclipse coming in August.

Mark Saunders, a spokesman for the postal service, says this is a stamp like no other before and it uses a special ink.

“It shows an image of the eclipse, a dark spot of the moon covering the sun, but when you touch the stamped image with your thumb, it transforms into an image of the moon,” Saunders says. “It’s using thermochromic ink. When the image cools, it reverts back to the total eclipse.” The “forever” stamps are available only in full sheets.

“There’s 16 stamps on the sheet and when you flip it over, on the back of the sheet is a map of the U.S. that shows the path of the eclipse,” Saunders says. “It enters in Oregon and exits through South Carolina. There’s 1,100 cities in that 70-mile wide path of the total eclipse.”

Only a tiny corner of southwest Iowa will be under the total eclipse but the rest of the state will have at least a partial view of the rare phenomenon. For best viewing, Iowans may have to travel to Nebraska or Missouri. As for the stamps, they could be in short supply soon enough.

“They’ll be available in post offices for two or three months,” he says. “We printed 60-million of them and once they’re sold, that’s it. We’re not going to produce any more. I recommend getting those stamps as soon as you can. The easiest way is at usps.com.” The total eclipse on August 21st will occur over Iowa shortly after 1 p.m./Central and will last, at most, about two-and-a-half minutes.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Filed Under: Human Interest, News, Recreation / Entertainment

Featured Stories

Summit has easements for 20% of carbon pipeline route through Iowa

Morel mushroom hunters on hold without warmer conditions

Trinity Health aquiring all MercyOne health properties

Field of Dreams site developer wants to bid on state baseball, softball tournaments

Governor gets bill targeting Iowa bars deemed ‘public safety nuisance’

TwitterFacebook
Tweets by RadioIowa

Radio Iowa/Baseball Coaches Association High School Poll 5/16/22

Iowa assistant coach Kirk Speraw to retire

Northern Iowa prepares for Missouri Valley Conference softball tournament

T.J. Otzelberger announces staff changes at Iowa State

Iowa State adds transfer guard

More Sports

eNews and Updates

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Archives

Copyright © 2022 ยท Learfield News & Ag, LLC