2007 Southern Skies

The 2007 Southern Skies was an issue of five stamps, each showing a scene from the night skies above New Zealand, set as a background to five famous astronomical telescopes. 

Getting away from the lights of the city reveals the true wonder of the night sky; constellations and star clusters; comets, planets and many deep space objects. The moon in all her beauty as she goes through her phases. All this, before we begin using binoculars or a small telescope. Then even more wonders appear to us like Jupiter and his four larger moons; Saturn and her glorious rings; splitting stars to reveal them as binaries (two stars orbiting each other). Then come the big telescopes which produce those photographs of nebulas with their amazing colours. 

The Stamps.

50c - Southern Cross.
Stardome Observatory, Auckland.

The Southern Cross is such an important feature of New Zealand’s night sky that it is part of our national flag. This small constellation, perhaps one of the smallest, is visible all year round from all parts New Zealand, moving in a large circle around the pole in the Southern Sky. It's four bright stars makes it easily identifiable in the Southern Hemisphere’s night sky, it has long been a valuable navigation aid for both Polynesian and European navigators. The cross also appears on the New Zealand Tomb of the Unknown Warrior – the stars were seen to have guided the Warrior back to New Zealand from distant battlefields.

$1.00 - Pleiades.
1.0m reflecting McLellan Telescope - Mt John Observatory.

The star cluster the Pleiades first rises each year in June, the same month when these beautiful stamps were issued.  According to Greek myth, the Pleiades are the seven daughters of Pleione and Atlas – Electra, Maia, Taygete, Alcyone, Celaeno, Asterope and Merope. A number of ancient temples on Athens’ Acropolis face the direction where the Pleiades rise. 

In some ways, this stamp could be considered as a forerunner of NZ Posts Matariki series which has provided us with a Maori themed stamp issue since 2008. For Maori, it is called Matariki, and its arrival on the dawn horizon heralds the start of a brand new year. You could say its a sign of renewal, a sign of new beginnings. While different iwi has different versions, generally the stars of Matariki are seen as a family, nine stars instead of the Greek seven, with the mother called Matariki, guiding her eight children across the sky.

The children, seven females and two males, each have a part to play in Maori life being connected to different aspects of everyday things. Waipunarangi (water that pools in the sky) is connected to the rain. Ururangi (the winds of the sky) is connected to the winds. Hiwaiterangi (vigorous growth) connected to the promise of a prosperous growing season. Pohutukawa, the most sacred of these stars is connected with the dead. Tupuarangi and Tupuanuku are associated with the male and female aspects of growing/gathering food of the land. Waiti and Waita are also linked to food and water, more food that comes from rivers or the sea. Notice both names start with 'wia' meaning water, one being male and the other female, said to be twins.

$1.50 - Trifid Nebula.
Ward Observatory - Whanganui.

The Trifid Nebula (also known as Messier 20) was discovered by Frenchman Charles Messier in 1764. Believed to be about 6,000 light years away from the Earth, its strikingly different colours are caused by effects within its vast clouds of hydrogen gas and dust – which in parts are so dense that they hide the Nebula, producing the three dark lanes that earned it the name ‘Trifid’ (which means divided into three lobes).

$2.00 - Southern Pinwheel.
1.8m MOA Reflecting Telescope - Mt John Observatory.

The Southern Pinwheel (also known as Messier 83) was discovered by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in 1752 and added to Charles Messier’s catalogue in 1781. It is even further than the Trifid Nebula from Earth – 15 million light-years away, in the southern constellation of Hydra. Having a similar appearance, shape and size to our own Milky Way galaxy, it contains more than 100,000 million stars and earned its name from the shape of its prominent spiral arms.

$2.50 - Large Magellanic Cloud.
Southern African Large Telescope.

The Large Magellanic Cloud and its companion the Small Magellanic Cloud are satellite galaxies of the Milky Way – two of our closest neighbour galaxies. Named after the 16th-century Portuguese circumnavigator Ferdinand Magellan, they are hazy patches of light near the South Celestial Pole containing millions of stars, gas and dust. At 190,000 light years away, the Small Magellanic Cloud is one of the most distant objects visible to the naked eye. It has been said that these two galaxies have been captured by our galaxy, The Milky Way, and will eventually be pulled in and merged.


The Southern Skies miniature sheet booklet featured six unique miniature sheets, one miniature sheet for each of the five stamps and one miniature sheet with all five stamps, from this issue.
The miniature sheet booklet was the only way you could obtain the six miniature sheets and is full of fascinating facts about the stars and telescopes used to view them.


First Day Cover - 6 June 2007.



Technical information.

Date of issue: 6 June 2007
Number of stamps: Five gummed stamps
Denominations: 50c, $1.00, $1.50, $2.00, $2.50
Stamps and first day cover designed by: Capiche Design, Wellington
Printer and process: SEP Sprint, Australia by photo lithography
Number of colours: Four process colours
Stamp size and format: 30mm x 40mm (horizontal)
Paper type: Tullis Russell red phosphor
Number of stamps per sheet: 25
Perforation gauge: 14



Some of the images in this post were used with permission from the illustrated catalogue of StampsNZ
You can visit their website and Online Catalogue at, http://stampsnz.com/

Information for this post came from.