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Touch new postage stamp with your finger, and total solar eclipse becomes the moon

The U.S. Postal Service is going all out for this summer's total solar eclipse, with a first-of-its kind stamp. Just touch the stamp with your finger, and the heat transforms the image of the blacked-out sun into the moon. Remove your finger, and the eclipse reappears. The trick is using temperature-sensitive ink. There's a map on the back of the stamp sheet showing the eclipse's diagonal path across the U.S. on Aug. 21, as the moon covers the sun in the sky.
Posted at 6:36 AM, Apr 28, 2017
and last updated 2017-04-28 07:32:03-04

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The U.S. Postal Service is going all out for this summer's total solar eclipse, with a first-of-its kind stamp.

Just touch the stamp with your finger, and the heat transforms the image of the blacked-out sun into the moon. Remove your finger, and the eclipse reappears. The trick is using temperature-sensitive ink.

RELATED: Cincinnati astronomer 'keeps looking up' at eclipses 16 years and counting

There's a map on the back of the stamp sheet showing the eclipse's diagonal path across the U.S. on Aug. 21, as the moon covers the sun in the sky.

It will be the first total solar eclipse visible in the contiguous United States since 1979 and the first one coast to coast since 1918.

Announced Thursday, the Forever 49 cent stamp comes out in June — on the summer solstice.

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