outerheaven

On the postcard

Let everything happen to you:
beauty and terror.
Just keep going.
No feeling is final.

Rainer Maria Rilke · Book of Hours · trans. Barrows & Macy

On the postcard

One living family.

Hug et al. · 2016 · 3,083 taxa

Hug et al. 2016, Supplementary Dataset 2. Circular rendering of the published maximum-likelihood ribosomal-protein tree, preserving topology and branch lengths; 3,083 terminal taxa. Labels omitted at clipping scale. These are sampled genomes/taxa, not a census of all species.

Type: inferred phylogeny. Source data or publication

On the postcard

For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.

Walt Whitman · Song of Myself

From the expanded collection

More children get to grow up.

World · under-five mortality · UN IGME / World Bank

World Bank SH.DYN.MORT, underlying UN IGME estimates; World, 1990–2024. Under-five mortality probability expressed per 1,000 live births. Downloaded 2026-09-05.

Type: historical estimates. Source data or publication

On the postcard

We measured the afterglow.

COBE / FIRAS · observed spectrum + theory

Fixsen et al. 1996; Fixsen & Mather 2002. Published monopole spectrum in MJy/sr; 1-sigma uncertainty converted from kJy/sr. Curve uses T=2.725 K. Error bars are smaller than symbols at this scale.

B_nu(T) = 2 h nu^3 / (c^2 (exp(h nu / (k_B T)) - 1))

Type: measurement + theoretical curve. Source data or publication

On the postcard

Our lives are not our own.
From womb to tomb,
we are bound to others.

Sonmi-451 · Cloud Atlas · 2012

From the expanded collection

And then we went.

Earth–Moon transfer · idealized simulation

Earth-only two-body Hohmann half-ellipse from 185 km altitude to lunar orbital distance 384,400 km. mu Earth=398600.4418 km³/s². Lunar gravity, injection duration and insertion are omitted. Not an Apollo flight reconstruction. Earth/Moon symbols are enlarged. Integrated with scipy solve_ivp; arrival-radius error <0.1 km.

r̈ = −GM r / |r|³

Type: idealized numerical simulation.

From the expanded collection

All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.

Julian of Norwich · Revelations of Divine Love

From the expanded collection

We made a disease disappear.

Reported smallpox cases · WHO

WHO (2011), via Earth Policy Institute and Our World in Data. Shows 1920–1985; reported cases, not estimated infections. Last natural case 1977, two laboratory-associated cases 1978, zero from 1979; worldwide eradication certified in 1980. Later OWID-extended zero years are not shown.

Type: historical reported cases. Source data or publication

On the postcard

We heard spacetime.

GW150914 · 14 September 2015

GW150914 discovery-paper Fig. 1 observed and waveform H/L text files. Detector-specific processed strain and model are shown at their supplied time coordinates; these are not raw detector data.

Gμν + Λgμν = (8πG / c⁴) Tμν

Type: processed measurements + numerical-relativity waveform. Source data or publication

On the postcard

I will face my fear.

Frank Herbert · Dune · Litany Against Fear

From the expanded collection

Even matter has a poetry.

Hydrogen · 2p orbital · probability-density slice

Nonrelativistic hydrogen 2p_z state: |psi|² = z² exp(-r)/(32 pi a0³), with dimensionless x,z,r in Bohr radii. x-z slice, not a projection or an electron trajectory. Density contours; normalization is three-dimensional.

Ĥψ = Eψ

Type: analytic quantum probability density.

On the postcard

The kingdom of God
is within you.

Luke 17:21 · King James Version

From the expanded collection

Care changes the curve.

Vaccination · illustrative SIR model

SIR model: beta=0.3/day, gamma=0.1/day, R0=3; I(0)=0.001. Compare 0% and 80% initially immune, immunity perfect and permanent. Closed, uniformly mixing population. Not smallpox surveillance data or a calibrated smallpox model.

İ = βSI/N − γI

Type: illustrative vaccination model.

From the expanded collection

If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;

Emily Dickinson · If I can stop one Heart from breaking