Today the USPS has their First Day Of Issue Ceremony for the Constellations issue. The ceremony was at the Cranbrook Institute of Science, in Bloomfield Michigan. USPS Southwest Michigan District Manager David Bartel dedicated the stamps, while USPS Executive Director of Stamp Services David Failor was Master of Ceremonies. Four .37-cent Commemorative stamps in a pane of twenty will be available to general distribution tomorrow.
Featured are constellations Leo, Lyra, Pegasus, and Orion, which are easily seen from the Northern Hemisphere. Star maps were used from Wil Tirion in the Netherlands, who is known as “this generation’s foremost celestial cartographer”. Well known illustrator, graphic designer, and educator McRay Magleby created the designs, using Tririon’s maps as reference for the placement and size of the stars.
