A dark, sci-fi editorial theme for Obsidian. Named for the Hubble Deep Field.
Sparse typography. Blue glow. Technical precision. Inspired by the visual language of space-documentary filmmaking — wide-tracked monospace section headers, hard corners, and data that reads like a mission-control readout.
Most dark themes are either neutral-grey or neon. Deepfield is editorial — it treats a note like a printed field guide. Section headers are tracked monospace caps. Tags read as [#hash] markers. Tasks carry distinct glyphs per state. Everything is square — no border radius anywhere — and a single blue accent runs through links, borders, and code.
- 20 color palettes, switchable live, including 8 planet themes derived from real spectral data
- Dark and light modes — palette accents carry into both
- Custom callout components — attribution blocks, HUD panels, scan-line dividers, and more, via native callout syntax
- Distinct task-state glyphs —
[/][-][>][!]each get their own symbol and color - Built on Minimal's variable system; works standalone too
Settings → Appearance → Themes → Browse → search Deepfield → Install → Use.
- Download this repo
- Copy the
Deepfield/folder into your vault's.obsidian/themes/ - Settings → Appearance → Themes → select Deepfield
For the full experience also install:
- Style Settings — required for the color-palette switcher
deepfield-components.css(in this repo) — copy to.obsidian/snippets/, enable under Settings → Appearance → CSS Snippets. Adds the custom callout + inline components.
With Style Settings installed, go to Settings → Style Settings → Deepfield → Color Palette. The accent updates live across links, borders, tags, code, checkboxes, and headings — in both light and dark mode.
| Group | Palettes |
|---|---|
| Blues | Electric (default) · Steel · Slate · Midnight |
| Planets (spectral) | Mercury · Venus · Earth · Mars · Jupiter · Saturn · Uranus · Neptune |
| Space | Event Horizon · Galactic Noir · Midnight Orbit · Ion Trail · Aurora Nebula · Magnetic Field · Retro Galaxy · Vintage Cosmos |
Each planet's accent is derived from the dominant wavelength of light it actually reflects:
| Planet | Accent basis |
|---|---|
| Mercury | Spectrally neutral silicate surface, peak ~500 nm |
| Venus | Sulfuric-acid cloud albedo, UV absorber at 340 nm |
| Earth | Rayleigh scattering, ocean blue dominant ~450 nm |
| Mars | Ferric iron (Fe₂O₃ / hematite), reflectance peak ~750 nm |
| Jupiter | Red chromophore absorbing blue 300–500 nm |
| Saturn | Ammonia-ice reflectance peak 550–600 nm |
| Uranus | Methane absorption 700–900 nm, reflects ~480 nm |
| Neptune | Stronger methane than Uranus; only ~440 nm escapes |
- Inter — body text and H1/H3 headings
- Space Mono — H2 and all H4–H6 (tracked uppercase), plus every data label, tag, coordinate, and code block
H2 renders as a wide-tracked monospace caps header with a thin accent rule beneath it. H4–H6 step down through mono-caps at decreasing weight and tracking, so deep hierarchy stays legible.
Everything Obsidian renders gets the Deepfield treatment:
- Headings H1–H6 with the type hierarchy above
- Blockquotes as left-bar panels with a faint accent fill
- Built-in callouts (note, warning, abstract, …) — square corners, mono-caps titles
- Tables — mono-caps accent headers, faint row borders, subtle even-row striping
- Code — square inline + block, accent-tinted, syntax colors tuned to the palette
- Tags —
[#tag]bracket-wrapped, mono uppercase, accent brackets (works in reading view and Live Preview) - Lists — accent markers, open circles at nested depth
- Task lists — square checkbox, translucent accent fill + glow when checked
- Highlights (
==text==) — accent-tinted, not default yellow - Embeds (
![[note]]) — left-bar container with a mono-caps title - Properties / frontmatter — left-bar panel, mono-caps keys
- Mermaid — dark nodes, accent strokes, light labels
- Math (KaTeX) and footnotes styled to match
Lists — accent markers, open circles at nested depth:
Tables — mono-caps accent headers, faint borders, color-coded status cells:
Code — square block, syntax colors tuned to the palette:
Tags — [#tag] bracket-wrapped, mono uppercase, accent brackets (reading view and Live Preview):
Section divider — the [!divider] callout, a scan line with centered text:
Beyond [ ] and [x], Deepfield gives each task state its own glyph and color:
| Syntax | State | Glyph · color |
|---|---|---|
- [x] |
Completed | check · accent (glow) |
- [/] |
In progress | dot · amber |
- [-] |
Cancelled | minus · faint (strikethrough) |
- [>] |
Deferred | arrow · purple |
- [!] |
Important | triangle · red |
Enable deepfield-components.css as a snippet. Block components use native callout syntax (so they work in reading and live preview); inline components use small HTML spans.
> [!attribution] Proof · Cambridge · 1974
> Stephen Hawking
>
> Every black hole leaks energy. Slowly · Unstoppably
> [!hud] TIER_07 · COSMIC_HORIZON_CLASS
> We do not have the words yet.
> [!punchline]
> Slowly · Unstoppably
> [!origin]
> Supernova Remnant
> [!bracket] XY_0.53 · 258.6958 · TIER_02
> Stellar-mass black holes form when a massive star runs out of fuel.
> [!transition] ×10¹⁹
> Ten billion billion heavier
>
> Tier 01 · Primordial → Tier 02 · Stellar-Mass
> [!horizon] Event Horizon · r_s = 2GM/c²
> [!divider] SECTION_END · 0347.001
> [!prose]
> One declarative sentence per line.
>
> Mostly invisible.| Callout | Renders as |
|---|---|
attribution |
Proof block — metadata · name · descriptor |
hud |
Left-bar panel with a mono coordinate header |
punchline |
Dot-separated accent caps |
origin |
Small bracketed origin tag |
bracket |
Corner-bracket container with a coordinate label |
transition |
Scale-jump card (large multiplier + subtitle) |
horizon |
Dashed event-horizon ring + label |
divider |
Scan-line divider with centered text |
entry |
Field-guide entry designation |
prose |
One-sentence-per-line column |
<!-- LED status -->
<span class="deepfield-led on"></span> Confirmed
<span class="deepfield-led warn"></span> Uncertain
<span class="deepfield-led"></span> Unobserved
<!-- Progress bar -->
<div class="deepfield-bar"><div class="deepfield-bar-label"><span>Confirmed</span><span>4 / 7</span></div><div class="deepfield-bar-track"><div class="deepfield-bar-fill" style="width:57%"></div></div></div>
<!-- Code badge -->
<span class="deepfield-code-badge"><span class="deepfield-code-badge-main">T7</span><span class="deepfield-code-badge-sub">Cosmic</span></span>
<!-- Scan line -->
<div class="deepfield-scan"><div class="deepfield-scan-rule"></div></div>
A full live reference of every element is in EXAMPLE.md — drop it in a vault with the theme + snippet active.
Deepfield ships a "Daylight Readout" light variant — cool-neutral paper, slate ink, blue accent held. Toggle via Settings → Appearance → Base color scheme, or follow your OS. Palette accents carry into light mode too. The blue-family palettes (Electric, Steel, Midnight, Neptune, Earth) are tuned for strong contrast in both modes.
Visual aesthetic inspired by Caelum — specifically The 7 Levels of Black Holes. The dark editorial typography, monospace section headers, dot separators, and data-annotation style are drawn from their visual language.
Space color palettes sourced from Filmora's Space Color Palette guide.
Planet palettes derived from published planetary spectral / reflectance data (see the table above).
Architecture builds on patterns from kepano/obsidian-minimal (HSL variable system) and mgmeyers/obsidian-style-settings (palette switcher). Custom-callout distribution follows Nick Milo's ITS Theme approach.
MIT — see LICENSE.