Introduction

Philately, the collecting of stamps, is one of the most popular hobbies all over the world.

The young and the old are enthused by this hobby.

Collecting stamps can be a relaxing balance to the job life, because they often take away the observer to remote worlds.

The stamps often are little works of art which can be a motivation to collect most different motives.

But stamps are more than colourful pictures!

The history and the culture of the countries are reflected in stamps.

As we have already described in detail in our first project contribution "Constellations and their mythology", people have always been impressed by the sight of the sky, by day and by night.

The sky above us, its objects and their exploration are permanent components of the culture in general.

World-wide this is appreciated again and again by the publication of stamps and postmarks (see: working group astronomy and philately).

The commemoration days of famous astronomers, sun eclipses and the appearance of comets are mentioned here for example.

Postal administrations of some countries have issued special editions of stamps on the occasion of the sun eclipse on 11.08.1999 to appreciate this terrific event worthily.

Unfortunately the "Deutsche Post" didn't decide to do so. This disappointed not only astronomers and stamp collectors.

Although our article is still incomplete, we have decided to publish it in this version already, because

· that way, we want to get an impression of our intention across to the reader already

· the visitors can follow the progression of our contribution and even take an active part in our work

· a good work never comes to an end completely, as it is well known.

Or, as Charles F. Keeting formulated so accurately : " It's better to carry out incomplete decisions than always to look for complete decisions wich never will exist."

So please have a look on our homepage from time to time, it's worth visiting!

If you have information/ stamps about concerning our topic, too, please inform us!

Maybe you even send us a scanned picture of your stamp.

Then your philateristic treasures (of course by mentioning the source) will be seen on our homepage and admired in every continents!

Thousands of astronomic- philatelistic thanks in advance!