Lisa Katayama, Gizmodo-sweetheart and sometimes guest blogger, has explored the Tokyo Science Museum's newest 3D planetarium theatre, the Synra Dome, and reported back with all the tech specs we've been dying to know. Synra uses twelve projectors to throw images onto a 10 metre, 3000x3000 pixel single-paneled screen. A pair of $US200 3D glasses then allows you to experience the birth of the universe or the journeys of ribosomes pop to life all around you. Curious about what moons look like on the other side of the galaxy, but can't make it to Japan? Check her piece out on io9. [io9]

During the last Presidential debate, John McCain delivered this line about his opponent with withering contempt:

[Obama] voted for nearly a billion dollars in pork barrel earmark projects, including, by the way, $US3 million for an overhead projector at a planetarium in Chicago, Illinois.

I'm already tired of hearing these guys talk, but that caught my ear. A $US3 million projector? What does that even look like? Gearlog did some digging and found out that the appropriation was requested by the planetarium to replace an awesome (but obsolete) 40-year old Zeiss Mark VI star projector with a newer model (pictured above).

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Taking a bath with me usually results in an out of this world experience of some kind or another, but for those of you who are too far away to experience such luxuries comes this bathtub planetarium sphere from Sega Toys. All you have to do is dim the lights and the HomeStar projects stars, underwater scenes, or even roses all over you, the walls, and whatever bath time companion followed you home that night. Hopefully it' E.T., and he feels right at home. And before you ask, the answer is yes, you could probably whip up a DIY model of this with a flashlight and a mirror, and save yourself 7,000 yen. There's no fun in that, though, and there's certainly no Japanese women in bath towels. Or E.T. [ImpressWatch via TokyoMango]

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Looking like something Doc would own in Back to the Future, Richard Mille's Planetarium-Tellurium clock is a beautifully intricate device, able to provide extremely accurate details about the workings of our Solar System. The clock provides not only the exact positions of the Earth, Venus, Mercury, the Sun and the Moon (who needs the other planets, anyway?) but the current axis of the Earth, its position relative to the Sun, the rotation of the Moon, and even the current signs of the Zodiac.

Mille used a famed astronomer-physicist to help with the exact calculations, and the only data that's a bit faulty is the current axis of the Earth -- which can get off by plus or minus one degree every 7.7 years (just faulty, faulty craftsmanship.) No price or release info just yet, but we're going to guess it's going to cost somewhere between a flux capacitator and a human kidney. [WatchLuxus via Technobob]

Why go through the work of tilting your head back and looking up to see the stars when you can get a cellphone strap that'll show you a tiny version of the cosmos? Bam, here's the Homestar Planetarium Phone Strap, keeping your precious neck baby fresh while allowing you to check out what I can only assume are awe-inspiring replications of the cosmos whenever you want. The universe in your hand for only $7? The future is now! And it's kind of disappointing! –Adam Frucci StrapYa [via TokyoMango]