Mexico 1942 – Tonantzintla Observatory
Without doubt this is the greatest of all the pre-1957 astro issues and a
classic set for any astro collector. These stamps are often offered for sale in
two separate lots: non-airmail (the first three values) and airmail (the three
highest values). All six were issued in 1942 February to mark the inauguration
of the Mexican National Astrophysical Observatory at Tonantzintla, near the
city of Puebla, about 100 km southeast of Mexico City. The observatory was
established with the help of Harvard College Observatory and its director
Harlow Shapley (see
here for a brief history). Probably the best-known astronomer who worked at
Tonantzintla was Guillermo Haro (1913–88), co-discoverer of the nebulous outflows from young stars known as Herbig–Haro objects.
These are also notable as the first stamps to feature real astronomical
photographs, rather than engravings. The subjects depicted are as follows: the
Horsehead Nebula in Orion (2 cent); total solar eclipse (5 cent); the Whirlpool
Galaxy, M51, in Canes Venatici (10 cent); the Sombrero Galaxy, M104, in Virgo
(20 cent); the Ring Nebula, M57, in Lyra (40 cent); and the Hertzsprung-Russell
diagram (1 peso). Many people will not have realized that these images are not
the work of Mexican astronomers but come from the Harvard plate collection.
However, over the following half century Tonantzintla built up its
own collection of astronomical plates taken with a Schmidt telescope built by Harvard, until
increasing light pollution from Puebla led to the cessation of serious
observing in 1995. A 1-m reflector was added to the observatory in 1961, which
is still in use, but a need for improved instruments and a better site led to
the establishment of a new observatory in 1970 at San Pedro Mártir in the Baja California peninsula.
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