Explore the wonders of the universe with Jersey Post
Jersey Sky at Night features eight out of this world images that were captured by local Jersey astronomy photographers Neil Mahrer and Gordon Pollock. Jersey has a local astronomy club that was founded in 1990, who regularly meet to make note of the various universal phenomena that can be viewed from Jersey’s night sky.
This issue includes a set of eight stamps and a souvenir miniature sheet. Three of the eight stamps feature iconic Jersey landmarks, including Grosnez castle, the wicker puffins, Archirondel tower. While the remaining five include beautiful space photography that focuses on a specific astronomy occurrence, such as a lunar eclipse.
To photograph these extraordinary natural phenomena, the photographers used a number of specialised techniques to capture the amazing nightly views that can be seen from the Island. While the images are typically true colours, one image used a technique called ‘Narrowband Imaging’ where special filters were used to capture the light from ionised gases - hydrogen, oxygen and sulphur. Multiple images were then stacked and combined in specialist software creating an enhanced colour image – in this case hydrogen is red, sulphur is green and oxygen is blue – known as the HSO palette. A similar technique is used by the Hubble telescope for many of its images.
