Crab Nebula Forever Stamp 2026
The U.S. Postal Service celebrates the beauty and mystery of the cosmos with a new Priority Mail stamp featuring an extraordinary image of the Crab Nebula captured by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (Webb). One of the most recognizable objects in the night sky, the Crab Nebula is the remains of a massive stellar explosion and remains one of the brightest supernova remnants known to astronomers.
The stamp honors both the breathtaking discoveries of the Webb telescope and the remarkable engineering behind this next-generation space observatory. Designed to explore some of the earliest and most distant objects in the universe, Webb continues the legacy of earlier space telescopes, including Hubble, by expanding humanity's understanding of galaxies, planets beyond our solar system, and the processes that create stars.
USPS art director Greg Breeding designed the stamp using an image selected from NASA's extensive collection. Breeding explained that the Crab Nebula image immediately stood out because of its dramatic colors, distinctive structure, and ability to translate beautifully into stamp format. Its familiar appearance also makes it a subject that many people can instantly recognize and appreciate.
The origins of the Crab Nebula, also known as Messier 1 (M1), date back nearly a thousand years. In 1054, the star that created the nebula exploded in a spectacular supernova event. Chinese astronomers recorded the appearance of an unusual guest star in the sky, and because the explosion was extraordinarily bright, it was likely visible to observers around the world. At its peak, the supernova would have shone with a brightness comparable to the full moon and approximately six times brighter than Venus.
On June 17, 2024, NASA released Webb's detailed new view of the Crab Nebula, revealing features that had never before been seen with such clarity. Located about 6,500 light-years away in the constellation Taurus, the nebula was captured in remarkable infrared detail through Webb's advanced observation technology.
The telescope's infrared instruments revealed the complex structures hidden within the nebula, including delicate filaments, glowing clouds, and intricate patterns of dust and gas. Soft magenta-colored dust creates a cage-like formation that is especially visible in the lower-left and upper-right portions of the image. Additional dust strands extend throughout the nebula, with some aligning with green regions produced by ionized sulfur. Near the center, yellow-white loops reveal areas where dust and sulfur interact.
Within this structure is a blue, smoke-like glow known as synchrotron emission. This phenomenon is produced by the Crab Nebula's central pulsar the rapidly rotating remains of the original star, containing an intense magnetic field. The glowing blue lines trace the shape of that magnetic field, creating the appearance of flowing ribbons suspended within the nebula.
Featured on a new Priority Mail stamp, this remarkable image represents both the extraordinary beauty of the universe and the achievements of human creativity and scientific exploration. By bringing a distant corner of space into everyday life, the stamp invites people to experience the wonder of discovery.
The stamp will be issued in panes of four.
Photo courtesy of NASA.
