The Netherlands has issued a set of stamps to mark the International Year of Astronomy (IYA 2009). The set of two stamps features a map surrounding the Netherlands marking the location of the LOFAR (LOw Frequency ARray) radio telescopes which are distributed across the Netherlands and other neighboring countries. The LOFAR system uses a large number of relatively cheap, omni-directional dipole antennas without any moving parts, concentrated in stations. The stamp shown on the right depicts the image of a lens crafted by Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens. The date, 3 February 1655 is inscribed along with an image of Saturn and what appears to be the phrase “Luna Saturni” – moon of Saturn. The date may indicate when Huygens described the first of Saturn’s moon, later named by John Herschel as Titan, or when Huygens released his proposal that Saturn was surrounded by a solid ring, “a thin, flat ring, nowhere touching, and inclined to the ecliptic.” Huygens did not openly report his discovery about the rings and new moon, but instead disguised his report using the line from the Roman poet Ovidius, “They brought the distant stars to our eyes,” which is also inscribed on the actual lens that Huygens made. The diameter of the 57 mm lens is shown in the top selvedge. The stamps are arranged tete-beche in sheets of 10. The map design continues on the upper and lower selvedge.

Netherlands 2009-04-07

IYA 2009 has a special task group to handle the philatelic issues and even more exciting, the Europa-CEPT issues for 2009 will also be following the IYA 2009 theme. A number of links and images are available. At this time it seems difficult to say how many terrestrial maps may be featured on the IYA 2009 stamps, but a number of star charts appear to be forth-coming.

A press-release and calendar of philatelic release dates is also available.

Some additional links of Interest for IYA 2009 are:

• Ian Ridpath’s Astro Stamp index: http://www.ianridpath.com/stamps/stampindex.htm
• Maiken Naylor’s SCI-PHILATELY: http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/asl/exhibits/stamps/
• ATA – Astronomy Study Unit: https://www.astronomystudyunit.net/

[ Mark Honig, the Society’s European Representative and “resident astronomer” supplied this information and will be keeping us informed of any additional issues from IYA that are of CartoPhilatelic importance. — web admin ]