The Heavens above Canada

An envelope from Canada with the 2018 Astronomy Minisheet. 

Canada marked the 150 th anniversary of its space research and the Royal astronomical society with a beautiful souvenir sheet carrying two stamps - the Milky Way galaxy stamp and the Northern lights stamp. 

The stamps feature stellar photographs from two Canadian night sky photographers who have been drawn to the magic and beauty of the heavens throughout their careers. Matt Quinn's stunning photo of the Milky Way was taken at Bruce Peninsula National Park in Ontario, while Alan Dyer captured a magnificent image of the Northern Lights in Churchill, Manitoba. Both photographs were taken in 2016.

The Milky Way, a spiral galaxy containing our solar system and hundreds of billions of stars, manifests as an ethereal band of light in Quinn's ghostly image.The Milky Way is a large barred spiral galaxy. All the stars we see in the night sky are in our own Milky Way Galaxy. Our galaxy is called the Milky Way because it appears as a milky band of light in the sky when you see it in a really dark area.Just as the Earth goes around the Sun, the Sun goes around the center of the Milky Way. It takes 250 million years for our Sun and the solar system to go all the way around the center of the Milky Way.

The brilliant colour of the Northern Lights is green in Dyer's photo but can also appear in undulating reds, blues, yellows, pinks and purples. The phenomenon occurs when charged particles released by the Sun interact with the Earth's magnetic field and upper atmosphere.Iceland, which sits at the latitude of approximately 64° north, is thus in a perfect position.The phenomenon can be seen from Norway. Greenland , Alaska , Finland apart from Canada.Before science could explain what these dancing lights were, there were many theories, throughout many different cultures. The old Norse, for example, theorised that they could be the glinting of the armour of the Valkyries, the legendary female figures who chose who would live and die in battle and took the dead to the afterlife.

Designed by Parcel Design of Toronto, each stamp includes metadata – the date and time the photograph was taken, coordinates and type of camera lens used for the photo – in special ink in the borders, making it visible only under a black light. Lines and names overlaid on the images highlight constellations.

The cancellation : 

 Orion is a hamlet in Alberta, Canada within the County of Forty Mile No. 8. The hamlet is located approximately 78 kilometres south of Medicine Hat along Highway 61.

Orion is also a prominent constellation located on the celestial equator and visible throughout the world. It is one of the most conspicuous and recognizable constellations in the night sky. It was named after Orion, a hunter in Greek mythology. 

The cancellation has the image of the constellation as well as the cows seen in the welcome board to the town !