About This Stamp
Continuing a tradition of celebrating astronomical discoveries and the wonder of space exploration, the U.S. Postal Service unveils a new Priority Mail Express® stamp showcasing a composite James Webb Space Telescope (Webb) and Hubble Space Telescope image titled Galaxy Pair. This image reveals two adjacent galaxies’ sweeping spiral arms, bright star-forming regions, and clouds of dust and gas, offering a glimpse into the dynamic processes that shape our universe.
This stamp follows previous USPS releases featuring James Webb Space Telescope images, including the Cosmic Cliffs and Pillars of Creation stamps issued in 2024, and the Spiral Galaxy and Star Cluster stamps in 2025.
Art director Greg Breeding, who has overseen the design of all previous Priority Mail® and Priority Mail Express® Webb-themed stamps, again led the artistic direction for the Galaxy Pair stamp.
“When I first came across this image, it took my breath away,” he says. “The image is so powerful and dynamic—I knew it had to become a stamp.”
The Galaxy Pair image presents a stunning view of two interacting galaxies, IC 2163 and NGC 2207, located approximately 80 million light-years from Earth. These galaxies are engaged in a cosmic dance, their mutual gravitational forces distorting their shapes and triggering waves of star formation.
The image of the two galaxies is a composite of separate exposures acquired by the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes using advanced imaging technology.
In Hubble’s original image, the star-filled spiral arms glow brightly in blue, and the galaxies’ cores appear in orange.
In Webb’s image, cold dust takes center stage, casting the galaxies’ arms in white. Areas where stars are still deeply embedded in the dust appear pink. Other pink regions may be objects that lie well behind these galaxies, including active supermassive black holes known as quasars.
The stamp will be issued in panes of four.
Photo courtesy of NASA.
Stamp Art Director, Stamp Designer
Greg Breeding
Greg Breeding is a graphic designer and principal of Journey Group, a design company he co-founded in 1992, located in Charlottesville, Virginia. He was creative director until 2013, at which time he began serving as president and continued in that role through 2023.
Breeding’s fascination with modernism began while studying design at Virginia Commonwealth University. His affinity with the movement continues and motivates his ongoing advanced studies at the Basel School of Design in Switzerland most every summer.
As an art director for postage stamp design since 2012, Breeding has designed more than 100 stamps covering a diverse array of subjects, from Star Wars droids and Batman to Harlem Renaissance writers and the transcontinental railroad.
His work has been recognized in annual design competitions held by Graphis, AIGA, PRINT magazine, and Communication Arts.
Breeding lives in North Garden, Virginia, with his wife and enjoys nothing so much as frolicking on the floor with his grandchildren.