1999 Total Eclipse
On 1999 August 11 this sheet of four stamps
was issued as a souvenir of the total eclipse of the Sun
visible on that day from southwest England. Figures in the
margin give the time of mid-eclipse and geographical
coordinates for Falmouth, which had the maximum duration of
totality in the British Isles, just over two minutes.
Perplexingly, the stamp is the same Newton/Hubble Space
Telescope one that was
issued a week earlier to honour Isaac Newton. The Royal
Mail’s explanation for the repetition was that
“Newton defined the physical laws governing motion,
including the orbits of the planets”. Most people looking
at the false-colour image of Saturn would doubtless have failed
to make the connection with a total solar eclipse.
Incidentally, the white dot underneath Saturn is not a flaw but
one of its moons, Dione. This is barely visible on the
previously released individual stamp – did someone try to
touch it out?
What were those involved in this complete
mis-fire thinking of?
Stanley Gibbons no. MS 2106
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1999 Total Eclipse (Alderney)
That’s more like it – a strip
of stamps portraying the progress of the solar eclipse from
beginning to end. Although most people went to Devon or
Cornwall in an attempt to see this eclipse from British soil,
the channel island of Alderney was also within the path of
totality. In 1999 April the Guernsey Post Office, whose
bailiwick includes Alderney, issued a set of six stamps with
values from 20p to 64p designed by Victoria Kinnersly. Early
stages of the eclipse are shown on the two lowest-value stamps,
while Baily’s Beads and flame-like prominences appear on
the 30p stamp as the eclipse becomes total. The 38p stamp
depicts the totally eclipsed Sun surrounded by its glowing
corona. On the 44p stamp, the first sliver of returning
sunlight appears at the Moon’s limb creating a diamond
ring effect as totality ends. The souvenir sheet shown here
includes an additional label with no postal value which
completes the sequence. Scientifically accurate and attractive,
although the colours were rather pale, this set was a
worthwhile memento of a remarkable event.
Stanley Gibbons nos. A 125–30 (Sheet:
MS A 131)