Hubble's Postage Stamps

In April of 2000, the United States Postal Service issed a set of 5 stamps commemorating discoveries from the Hubble Space Telescope. This page presents some background to these images with some suggestions for learning more...

Edwin Hubble was born in 1889 and died in 1953. Near the peak of his scientific career the 200 inch telescope was dedicated. Hubble was present at the dedication of the observatory commemorated on the above stamp. Although he has not yet been personally commemorated on a U.S. stamp, his name comes up again in a set of 5 stamps issued in April, 2000.

The May 2000 issue of Sky & Telescope has an article "Beyond the Hubble Sequence" by G.D. Bothun which discusses the work of Hubble in a more modern context. It is interesting to note that Hubble's classification of galaxies has been with astronomers for over 70 years.

To learn more on the Hubble Space Telescope, and see a much more of the images it has produced I suggest Hubble : A New Window to the Universe as a good start.

Why not visit the Space Telescope Institute to view images and learn about the work they do?

About Edwin Hubble

Don't get me wrong, the set of 5 stamps commemorating the Hubble Space Telescope are excellent! But what about Hubble himself?

I recommend Edwin Hubble : Mariner of the Nebulae by Gale E. Christianson as an excellent biography of Hubble.

If you want to learn more about the classification of galaxies developed by Hubble, see the Hubble Atlas of Galaxies by Allan Sandage. This book looks like a "coffee table" book, and has lots of black and white photographs of galaxies. But it is more, offering photographic examples of Hubble's classification.

Your comments on this page are welcome!

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