Europa "Astronomy"

Early civilizations recognized only five planets — Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn — the ones bright enough to show up easily to the naked eye. It wasn’t until after the invention of the telescope in 1608 that Astronomers using it discovered three more planets: Uranus (1781), Neptune (1846), and Pluto (1930). (Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet in 2006).

The telescope was actually invented in the Netherlands, but the Italian mathematician and philosopher Galileo Galilei and Englishman Thomas Harriot, became the first people to view the night sky through telescopes exactly 400 years ago. That moment is now generally regarded as the birth of modern astronomy.

Specification

Date of issue Designer Printer Values Process Stamp size Paper Sheet Perforation Cylinder

28 May 2009 Mark Totty Joh Enschede 36p, 43p, 51p, 54p, 56p, 77p Offset Lithography 36mm deep x 36mm wide 110 gsm unwatermarked PVA adhesive 10 13.25 x 13.25 A