Two planetary images taken by a University of Arizona space scientist soon will appear in a new postage stamp series on the solar system.
Erich Karkoschka captured the shots after persuading NASA to point the Hubble Space Telescope at the planets so he could study their atmospheres.
One image shows Jupiter with three of its largest moons dotting the surface in a triple eclipse. Karkoschka, a senior staff scientist at the UAβs Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, said the sight is so rare the last time it occurred was more than 60 years ago.
βI was granted one orbit in one specific year, and so I looked for the best occasion in that year, and then I realized if it was going to be on that date, I could get something that really doesnβt happen very often. So I was kind of lucky,β he said in a news release.
The image of Uranus shows the aquamarine planet streaked by pastel cloud bands and three bright red clouds.
Both images are extra-colorful because of the types of cameras and filters used to capture things the human eye normally canβt see, the news release said.
Karkoschka took the shots more than a decade ago. The U.S. Postal Service chose the images for its new special edition stamp series called βViews of our Planets.β
The series will be released officially on Tuesday at the 2016 World Stamp Show in New York City.
The Postal Service receives around 40,000 suggestions for stamp ideas each year, but only about two dozen make the cut, UA officials said.
