One home-modder plugged bundles of fiber optics into tiny dremel holes in his ceiling. Using just a touch of glue to hold each star in place, 250 dots twinkle...maybe even brighter than real stars.

Even for a lazy glob of lard such as myself, the install sounds wicked-easy thanks to a step-by-step tutorial over at Instructables. That said, I'm still the type of guy to hire out. [instructables via Hack a Day via lifehacker]

Scientists at the University of Indiana have shown the incredible density and molecular strength of neutron stars, which as all you amateur astronomers know is the leftover from a gravitational collapse of a star during a supernova. The research was started out of concern that the intense gravitational pull of these things could cause ripples in space-time, but could lead to new understanding of star quakes or magnetar giant flares.

So the next time you're about to push your glasses up your nose and toss an esoteric insult at your lab partner, consider "as dense as a neutron star." [Eureka via Crunchgear]

After long weeks of dancing his heart out, propped up on his busted up legs by only his resolve, courage and legions of SMS-voting geeks, Steve "ThunderToes" Wozniac is booted from Dancing With the Stars.

For some, he was hard to watch dancing. OK, maybe for most. But not to me.

To me he was a giant (but rapidly decreasing in weight, mind you) bundle of circuit board, segway riding, love bouncing around with the enthusiasm of a child on two barely-functioning legs. The man who could out design professional mainframe builders in his early teens found dancing impossible, but here he was trying, bucking what fate handed him (genius, riches) for what nearly everyone else took for granted (having fewer than two left feet). Woz is a deep geek—ours—with the accompanying social awkwardness. And he lost, and lost perhaps more badly than any contestant in the history of the show. But I don't think anyone else faced such overwhelming odds. And who can resist cheering for the underdog?

Lets see if we can get Woz on Survivor or American Gladiators. [Newsday]

*Sorry for spoiling the ending, ladies and dudes. I figured it was not so much a "spoiler" as a "save-you-from-having-to-watch-bad-TV-ler".

This is what the Hubble Telescope saw, conveniently labeled by our friends at NASA. Where is the planet, you ask? Do you see that little underlined part to the right? That's the unimaginatively named Fomalhaut b! To get the image, Hubble's camera needed to block out the brightest part of the star, which shines millions of times brighter than the planet itself.

And here's the picture taken by the Gemini and Keck observatories of the bodies orbiting Star HR8799. HR8799 is about 1.5 times more massive than our sun, and five times more luminous. Like the Hubble's image, this star needed to have its light blocked too in order for us to see the planets. These two, despite being an even greater distance away, were slightly easier to find since they're young. Being only about 60 million years old, they're still glowing from leftover heat from their formation, making them brighter than Fomalhaut B, which only glows when reflecting light from Fomalhaut.

Here's an artistic rendering of Star HR8799 and it's planets. The third planet hasn't been imaged yet, but thanks to mathematical calculations, we know it's there!

So in case you were doubting it—yes, other star systems exist. And as our galactical camera technology gets better, the pictures will start looking more like actual planets, rather than fetal specks on a giant Eye of Sauron. [Bad Astronomy]

Image credits: NASA and the Gemini Observatory

The flash in the sky is a remnant of a blast 7,000 light-years away in the Lupus constellation. Scientists say that it was the brightest observed supernova in recorded history, and that the light from the explosion could be seen in the daytime for weeks afterward.

The supernova sent a shockwave that traveled outwards at nearly 20 million mph. In the 1960s, radio astronomers first detected the ring of material pushed out by the shockwave. With the latest imagery, released by the Hubble Space Telescope's science team, you can see a gossamer stripe with starlight shining through it—the rocket's red glare indeed.

[Cosmiclog]

The HomeStar—yes, we know, Strong Bad—costs $229.99 and lets you project the universe on your ceiling and walls. This 2 pound ball can also simulate the starscape in the northern and southern hemispheres and includes a travel adapter for when you want to show off to that girl you picked up at the Fleisch Marke.

Product Page [Brando]