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.
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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